This is me today. Today has not been a good day, at any possible level. Sadly, there is still more of today that needs to be dealt with.
Tag: stress
As a follow-up to previous post
Commute from hell
I took Bean to school by myself this morning. We get to the metro station to see a tsunami of people coming out of the station – apparently the metro was down from our station (the terminus) all the way to Bessieres, which is 3 stations away from the train station. That’s more than a third of the line down. They got a replacement bus going, but we were packed like sardines, 6 deep across the width of the bus. I have to give mad props to the Bean, he was a really good boy but it threw our schedule to hell. In the end, we made it on time (with a few minutes to spare) but it was rough.
I’m really worried about my bean. He walked into school with a look of pure incomprehension on his face. It’s all so new, and it’s all in French. I really worry that the language barrier will make what should be a really exciting experience into something that he doesn’t like. My head tells me that he’s resilient enough to cope. I mean, he’s handled nursery without a problem, and he’s been really good with the whole move, so this is just one more thing that he’ll get used to. As long as mummy and daddy tell him that everything is ok, he’ll just go with the flow and do his own thing. My heart breaks though, when I see him walking into school with a tentative wave and a look around to make sure I’m still there.
He’s having a “full” day of school today. He’s going to have lunch in Morges. The “problem” is that it’s not actually at the school. The kids that are signed into school lunches get picked up and go somewhere else where all the schools send the kids to lunch. He knows what’s going to happen, and his teacher is going to make sure that he gets picked up. Again though, it’s a language thing. I worry. I’m sure it’ll all be fine, and that other kids in similar situations have gone through the process without issue, but he’s my bean, and I love him to bits, and I worry.
[Child, if you ever end up reading this when you’re older and stalking my old blog archives, you give me grey hairs but I love you to bits.]
I want to be a cat
While the whirling dervish that is my too-tired son was causing mayhem and chaos downstairs, the cats were chilling their shit upstairs, quite contently.Â
I so need/want to be a cat right now.
Money! Money! Money!
Good news, my EBI indemnities came in today. Less good news, more than half of them have already gone to loan repayments. Better news, we’re now debt free (almost).
Things are moving waaaay too fast
Jaysus, my head is spinning! We have approved quotes for removals, and we’ve contacted estate agents and solicitors for the house sale. The property isn’t even officially on the market yet and the agents have contacted us about a lady wanting to view the property this weekend!
GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!
Hard times on the high street
Since 2005, a significant number of companies have gone into administration. Some have been rescued, some have been sold, some have just completely disappeared. The list includes, but is not limited to:
Acquascutum
Barratts
Best Buy
Blacks Leisure
Blockbuster
Borders
Clement Joscelyne
Clinton Cards
Coffee Republic
Comet
Game Group
Habitat
Hawkin’s Bazaar
Hein Gericke UK
HMV
Jessops
JJB Sports
La Senza
Little Chef
Masai GB
Mexx
MFI
Oddbins
Optical Express
Past Times
ProCook
Pumpkin Patch
Rosebys
ScS Upholstery
Suits You
The Natural World
The Pier
The Works
Whittard’s of Chelsea
Woolworths
Zavvi (Virgin Megastore)
The times, they are a changin’
Paperwork, part 2.
After spending an hour last night filling in the forms, we get to the high commission at 7:30 this morning and get in the queue. We were seen bya nice pre-screening gentleman who tells us that handwritten forms are no longer accepted. WTF? luckily, he pointed us to a post office a few doors down that has a nice little racket going where you can fill the forms online and print them there. £6 for 4 pages. Get back in the queue, but it’s still only 7:45 so we’re still on schedule.
Hand in the forms to the immigration staff and they were really good about it. It seems it’s just a formality, albeit an aggravating one. Amusing note, I had to hamdwrite a letter of invitation for Pam. Not technically needed, but they said the more supporting papers the better. After 30 minutes of waiting, we’re called to see a nice lady who first apologizes for yesterday, and says they’ll issue a visa. Apparently, she actually needed one last time she went to Canada but that must’ve fallen through the cracks. Anyway, lesson learned for next time. Now, its just hurry up and wait time. In the end, we left the high commission at 10:15, hailed a cab, checked out of the hotel and we’re now on our way to Heathrow.
I’ve been living on caffeine and nicotine for the past 24 hours. Not the best way to start a holiday, but at least it’ll make for a good story.
Edit: all that faffing for this
And they didn’t even use the picture we had taken!!
Paperwork, part 1.
So. Pam and I checked into a surprisingly acceptable hotel to figure out our game plan. We printed off the visa application forms, went to the bank to get proof of funds, got passport pictures taken and I’ve just been to the high commission in Grosbenor St to figure out where we need to go bright and early tomorrow. Wish us luck!!!
Edit: 8 bloody pages of veeeery detailed information, some of which we don’t have…. Fret! Fret! Fret!
Well, that didn’t go as planned…
We were supposed to fly to Canada today, all 5 of us. Except now, there are only 3 people flying today. We found out the hard way that Pam’s status as a British protected person means that she needs to have a visa tiling go to Canada, even though she has a British passport. That wasn’t the case last time we all travelled to Canada. Apparently the immigration laws changed since then. Go you, Harper!
So. Pam and I are staying behind so that we can go to the Canadian high commission in central London to get her a visa tomorrow. They’re only open from 8 to 10:30 so we booked a room in a close-by hotel and get there bright and early.
Hopefully we won’t have any more surprises tomorrow.
Fret :-(