We were up early today, because it is a day to be spent mostly at the Department of Immigration where I am go get my Status changed on my visa to a probabional 1 year as opposed to the 21 day tourist.
We went to Immigration and bounced from one window to the next and back again, then to the copy girl to have copies made, then to the payments window then returning to the original window with receipt in hand to obtain whatever document we needed.
It is a circus and the priority system they use is nothing short of extortion on a grand scale... they have, for instance, a fee to 'Expedite' processing and then for an additional 500p, you can elect to have double expedite service which in the end doesn't do anything faster but does fatten the coffers of the establishment... what you are promised at one window is forgotten before you reach the next so consternation runs deep in the processes... To sum up a long day, at 3:30, I paid the money to have my iCard processed and I can pick it up in a week. The sign said "In at 3:30 released at 4:30... well, we were in at 3:35 so hence the 1 week wait I guess...
Altogether, it cost me just shy of 9,000p to get the iCard and allows me to stay here for up to 1 year at a time...
We got home about 5:30 and even though Nora made repeated requests (via texting) for the children to prepare for the trip, when we got there they had done nothing except consume more air than I feel they were entitled to... But, we did manage to get on the road by about 6:30 with the crib and stroller and suitcases in hand... Problem is, the bus would not take the crib so we ended up sending it back to the apartment.
I gave Nora an ambien, and she went to sleep, but woke about halfway thru the trip, sick to her stomach so after leaving copious amounts of her tummy contents at the refueling stop, she returned to the bus and tried to defile a plastic bag with some more and then finally dropped back to sleep... I think only 1/2 of a tab is all she will get from now on.
Going back to the experience in Immigration, it is not that there is a fee for services that bothers me, rather it is because the fee is stepped to equate with a certain level of service... the fallacy in that situation is that regardless of the amount of "Extra" fee that you pay, the service level remains constant... either slow or with another fee...
Anyway done with that episode...
From denny's iPad...
(my demented mind)
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