Thursday 4 June 2009

Good Post Day

Let's get the stupid stuff, the 'oh, per-lease' stuff out of the way first, shall we?

Now that I've got British Citizenship, I've applied for a British passport. (Of course). Bad news is that, in order to apply, I had to send away my original passport. This was a bit risky, of course... even if we were to magically get a referral, no passporto = no aeroplano. (Can you tell I have never actually studied Italian? Yes, I thought so). But anyway, it had to be done, and they don't lose passports VERY often, so I bundled up my little package, kissed it, and sent it on it's way.

I keep expecting my documents to come back - they'll be arriving through the post, and I keep getting false alarms. I had to go to the post office to pick up a secure delivery package a few days ago - I was SURE it was my passport - nope, printer toner. Today, though, I get a package and it's finally from the right people:


Hurrah!

Or so I thought, until I opened it. I'm going to show you an actual photograph of the letter so that you know I'm not making up what they sent me:



Just in case you can't read the squidgy letters, it says: 'Thank you for your passport application. Unfortunately, you do not appear to have a neutral expression in the photographs submitted'.

I was neutral! I was! My mouth was in a straight line, no teeth showing, bad hair, unfortunate squint - it was the perfect passport photo.

Tell you what, though, I certainly wasn't feeling quote unquote 'neutral' after I read that. I have to resubmit photos, and I guess they won't be returning any of my stuff until after I've done all that and gone to the back of the queue again. I expect the next letter I get will say: 'Thank you for your passport application. Unfortunately, you seem to be holding a sharp object and a threatening message in the photographs submitted'. Bah.

However!! On balance, it was still, against all the odds, an excellent post day! Cos I also hit the craft-it-forward jackpot from this lovely lady who sent me the most fabulous stash of ethiopian flag cards!


Want to see my adoption announcement cards? Well, you just did :) Did you ever see anything cooler?

I am beyond chuffed - thank you SO MUCH! Also... I have a feeling we're on a similar crafty wavelength here. Those of you who are forward in my chain, you have a hint! Ooooh, the mystery!

9 comments:

  1. ::crawls under desk and cries::

    Your bureaucracy scares the poop out of me.

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  2. I have so much to catch up on your blog!

    Cindy

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  3. I'm glad you got them...because hubs *said* he mailed them. (and I've found entire bundles of Christmas letters that were "mailed" in our car trunk a year later than the actual "sent" date...)

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  4. OMG! A neutral expression is required? I am smiling like an idiot in my passport picture. That is a crazy requirement. I hope they get their neutral-ease full next time.

    I can't wait to get a craft from you! And I love those announcements...wow!

    Okay, so Jon and I think that we want to stay over a night in England on our way back from Ethiopia b/c the flight is so unbearably long and a good friend recommended a rest before doing the second leg of the travel returning from ET, so do you have any recommendations close to the airport (of course, I don't know any flight info so this may be an impossible question to answer)?

    Theresa

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  5. Ooooh love those cards! How special :) You are certainly getting help from some very "special" people on your adoption journey. Who even gets to decide when a pic isn't neutral enough? I don't remember our school guidance counsellor mentioning that as a career option (I've got to admit it would be fun though!).

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  6. I think rule #9 is my favourite. No dummies, please.

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  7. Oh my. I cannot believe a facial expression makes any difference at all. Lee and I immediately had to go look at our passports and found doofus smiling faces. So why does it matter???
    I'm sorry for all this stinkin' bureaucratic crapola.

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  8. Oh for crying out loud. That is ME DAVS up above as "ashley". I have too many damn google accounts.

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Over to you!