Overheard in London
Last week I spent 3 days in London. Being so used to not understanding what’s being said around me, dropping down in the heart of rush-hour London was complete sensory overload. I felt like a spy, suddenly being privy to all sorts of snippets of top secret conversations around me. I found myself eagerly eavesdropping; picking up juicy bits and pieces of the action around me.
Overheard:
"I need some serious therapy mate!" --- bloke talking to friend on the train
"...and when I found out, I left him. Cause, you know, he’s a real piece of shit." --- girl friends chatting on tube
"...I’m sitting here alone, in my flat, and I realize I have bloody nobody!!" --- woman talking to friend walking down the street
"What do I want?!? I want you HERE, RIGHT NOW, like you FUCKING PROMISED!!" ---woman screaming into cell phone outside tube station
"...and I look over, and there’s this German guy sitting with 5 completely NAKED girls..." ---guy talking to friends at table next to me in restaurant
Is it just me, or is there a lot of drama in London???
Two years, too fast.
As you can see by the title, I’ve now been living in Holland for officially two full years. It’s actually a bit mind boggling to say it aloud, as I feel like it was just yesterday that I arrived with two bulging suitcases and a Lonely Planet Amsterdam.
A week ago, in fact on the very day of my “2 years in Holland anniversary” I received another letter from the IND. Actually; I was beginning to feel a bit unloved, since I hadn’t received one of their semi- threatening letters for a few weeks.
As my written Dutch is quite basic at the moment, I interpreted the letter to say something along the following lines:
Dear Dazzle,
We recently saw you riding your bike down the Damrak in Amsterdam, and were somewhat perplexed at the sight. What are you still doing in Holland? Have we not succeeded at discouraging you from living here yet? Did the eight months of waiting for your application to be approved, the subsequent rejection of your application, and now our “silent treatment” on your appeal, not finally convince you to leave?
Please inform us when you (finally) give up on this whole charade.
Your truly,
The IND
P.S. As you know the 14 weeks we are legally allowed to take to make a decision have long passed, however, we would like to inform you that we may take another 6 months or longer to reach a final decision .
Ok, I’ll admit that may not have been exactly the contents of the letter, but trust me, it might have well been. In fact the P.S. is a direct translation of the last line of the actual letter. With the “6 months or longer” bit in bold, just to drive it home. I’m curious; how long they can actually drag this whole thing on? Have they set up an office betting pool for cases like mine? (“Anyone else wanna place a bet on how long it will take for xxx to pack up and leave?”)
When I first found out my application had been rejected, I was crushed. Utterly crushed. However, after speaking to an immigration lawyer, who was downright giddy at the fact that I had been rejected without a legal reason, I stopped caring. I have now mentally classified the whole ordeal as one seemingly never-ending source of amusement. It’s actually amazing how once you chose to stop caring about something, all stress and turmoil instantaneously evaporates. (Who knew??)
For now, I guess I’ll wait the stated “6 months or longer”...and keep you posted. I figure, worst case scenario: I have some dramatic forced deportation to Canada --that would make good blogging material, now wouldn’t it??
Alas, Spring has Sprung!
"In the spring time, the only pretty ring time,
When birds do sing, hey ding a ding;
Sweet lovers love the spring."
--William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
"Beauty is a form of genius - is higher, indeed, than genius, as it needs no explanation. It is of the great facts in the world like sunlight, or springtime, or the reflection in dark water of that silver shell we call the moon."
--Oscar Wilde (1854- 1900)
"I have always tried to hide my efforts and wished my works to have a light joyousness of springtime which never lets anyone suspect the labors it has cost me."
--Henri Matisse (1869-1954)
"That is one good thing about this world...there are always sure to be more springs"
--Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874 - 1942)
"Spring is when life's alive in everything."
--Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)
"An optimist is the human personification of spring."
--Susan J. Bissonette (??)
"If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."
--Anne Bradstreet (1612-1672)
God Save the Queen
