A quick update
This is the sitrep for the four of us:
Karyn:
I have been offered a place on the MA Ed Studies course at Oxford Brookes starting in September this year. No doubt this will have huge impact on the family, and I will have to put a lot of things on hold while the course runs. I have submitted my application for indefinite leave to remain (often referred to as permanent residence) in the UK. This can take 6 months to process. See more under John, below. Once this is in place, I will set the wheels in motion to get a British passport, then travelling with me will be less of a trial for my family :-)
I am supposed to be running in an inter-corporate team race in London in July, but I haven't been able to train, since I am suffering from the usual upper respiratory complications of my allergies. The doctor insisted it was asthma, but every definition I can find on the matter says asthmatics struggle to breathe out. I can't breathe in. Anyway... whatever.
John:
Off to New York again today for the week. For this he (of course) needed his passport. Sadly, I had submitted this with my ILR application. Happily, the application form guidance listed a phone number for the emergency return of passports. Sadly, this only applies when the application is actually in the system, which can take weeks from the date of receipt (I kid you not). Oh, and the 6 months of processing time only starts when the application actually enters the system. In this age of frequent travel, we must surely not be the first to be in this situation. In the end, John had to go to the hub of bureaucracy and obtain his passport in person. Believe it or not, he had to produce evidence that he genuinely had to travel. Weird - it's his passport, why should he have to produce this evidence to get it back? I was advised that, in fact, it is not his passport, the passport is the property of the issuing country. Ri-ight. Let me rephrase my question: why does the British government need this evidence before returning a Swedish passport? Anyway - he duly got the passport back, and has been given a little sticker to put on it when he sends it back in again. No doubt we will have to go through this rigmarole every time he needs to travel, which might be several times before my application is processed. Sigh.
John and Björn have been playing cricket together for the local Sunday team. He just loves it. He always had this dream of playing for some social team with his boys. Since Torvy isn't particularly interested in sport, it'll have to be just with the one boy. Consequently, they don't play every week - that gives him time to do things with Torvy as well.
Björn:
Had to withdraw from the inter-county athletics champs, having injured his javelin-throwing shoulder days before the scheduled event. This took place during some small scale interschool event which he should have won easily. Poor lad.
At least there was compensation in that he was then able to attend a friend's birthday party which he had previously had to decline. The party involved a visit to the swimming pool. I assumed that this would be the indoor pool arrangement that is typical here, but, in fact they went to an outdoor pool and it was a glorious day. Of course, I had provided no sunscreen, and my son came home with a bright red back.
The requirements for this school year being over, his class starts working towards their GCSEs this week. Having had less than 30 mins homework per week up to now, he has not developed any concept of independent studies and the GCSEs have a huge coursework component for each subject that counts towards their final marks (I wish schools would teach learning skills! Then I wouldn't have to bust my butt so hard when people entered my sphere of the universe as adult learners).
Torvald:
Still sporting his long locks, Torvy is counting down the days to the end of middle school. The current count is 24 (school)days. He has just outgrown his third pair of school shoes this year and desperately needs bigger trousers. The problem is, the high school doesn't have a uniform and I'm not really keen to pay £50 for these items with so little of the school year left. I have browbeaten the school into letting him wear dark trainers to school, but they wouldn't budge on the trousers (I guess I can understand that), so I bought him one cheap pair that will have to get cycled through the wash really quickly each weekend.
On his very last day of Y7, I have promised to take him straight from school to the shopping centre to have his ear pierced. He has wanted to do this for the longest time, but we said not until he was 13. We brought the date forward by a few weeks to allow the ear to heal enough to remove the earring for sports when he starts high school in the first week of September. Since it costs £5 for one ear and £6 for two, I will have a second hole in one of my ears to use up the other half of the deal. No doubt I will pass out on the floor as I have done every time before...
He is practising very hard for the end of year concert, in which he is playing the bass guitar. He is dead keen to buy one of his own to add to his accoustic 6 string. He is hoping to get enough money for his 13th birthday to be able to do this. On Saturday we went looking at basses. They are quite pricy and, of course, he doesn't want one that's hugely heavy, being just a lickle lad.
Karyn:
I have been offered a place on the MA Ed Studies course at Oxford Brookes starting in September this year. No doubt this will have huge impact on the family, and I will have to put a lot of things on hold while the course runs. I have submitted my application for indefinite leave to remain (often referred to as permanent residence) in the UK. This can take 6 months to process. See more under John, below. Once this is in place, I will set the wheels in motion to get a British passport, then travelling with me will be less of a trial for my family :-)
I am supposed to be running in an inter-corporate team race in London in July, but I haven't been able to train, since I am suffering from the usual upper respiratory complications of my allergies. The doctor insisted it was asthma, but every definition I can find on the matter says asthmatics struggle to breathe out. I can't breathe in. Anyway... whatever.
John:
Off to New York again today for the week. For this he (of course) needed his passport. Sadly, I had submitted this with my ILR application. Happily, the application form guidance listed a phone number for the emergency return of passports. Sadly, this only applies when the application is actually in the system, which can take weeks from the date of receipt (I kid you not). Oh, and the 6 months of processing time only starts when the application actually enters the system. In this age of frequent travel, we must surely not be the first to be in this situation. In the end, John had to go to the hub of bureaucracy and obtain his passport in person. Believe it or not, he had to produce evidence that he genuinely had to travel. Weird - it's his passport, why should he have to produce this evidence to get it back? I was advised that, in fact, it is not his passport, the passport is the property of the issuing country. Ri-ight. Let me rephrase my question: why does the British government need this evidence before returning a Swedish passport? Anyway - he duly got the passport back, and has been given a little sticker to put on it when he sends it back in again. No doubt we will have to go through this rigmarole every time he needs to travel, which might be several times before my application is processed. Sigh.
John and Björn have been playing cricket together for the local Sunday team. He just loves it. He always had this dream of playing for some social team with his boys. Since Torvy isn't particularly interested in sport, it'll have to be just with the one boy. Consequently, they don't play every week - that gives him time to do things with Torvy as well.
Björn:
Had to withdraw from the inter-county athletics champs, having injured his javelin-throwing shoulder days before the scheduled event. This took place during some small scale interschool event which he should have won easily. Poor lad.
At least there was compensation in that he was then able to attend a friend's birthday party which he had previously had to decline. The party involved a visit to the swimming pool. I assumed that this would be the indoor pool arrangement that is typical here, but, in fact they went to an outdoor pool and it was a glorious day. Of course, I had provided no sunscreen, and my son came home with a bright red back.
The requirements for this school year being over, his class starts working towards their GCSEs this week. Having had less than 30 mins homework per week up to now, he has not developed any concept of independent studies and the GCSEs have a huge coursework component for each subject that counts towards their final marks (I wish schools would teach learning skills! Then I wouldn't have to bust my butt so hard when people entered my sphere of the universe as adult learners).
Torvald:
Still sporting his long locks, Torvy is counting down the days to the end of middle school. The current count is 24 (school)days. He has just outgrown his third pair of school shoes this year and desperately needs bigger trousers. The problem is, the high school doesn't have a uniform and I'm not really keen to pay £50 for these items with so little of the school year left. I have browbeaten the school into letting him wear dark trainers to school, but they wouldn't budge on the trousers (I guess I can understand that), so I bought him one cheap pair that will have to get cycled through the wash really quickly each weekend.
On his very last day of Y7, I have promised to take him straight from school to the shopping centre to have his ear pierced. He has wanted to do this for the longest time, but we said not until he was 13. We brought the date forward by a few weeks to allow the ear to heal enough to remove the earring for sports when he starts high school in the first week of September. Since it costs £5 for one ear and £6 for two, I will have a second hole in one of my ears to use up the other half of the deal. No doubt I will pass out on the floor as I have done every time before...
He is practising very hard for the end of year concert, in which he is playing the bass guitar. He is dead keen to buy one of his own to add to his accoustic 6 string. He is hoping to get enough money for his 13th birthday to be able to do this. On Saturday we went looking at basses. They are quite pricy and, of course, he doesn't want one that's hugely heavy, being just a lickle lad.
posted by karynr at 12:11 pm
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