So, Thursday morning we piled food into the guinea pig cages, and gave them giant water bottles and topped up Binky’s  food and water and then got on a bus at 7:30 to go to the train station.  Halfway there, an idiot in a van parked in the bus lane and refused to move.  The bus driver had to call the cops, and meanwhile we were stuck there.  After about 10 minutes, Neil was starting to panic about catching our train, and I told him, "You are large and intimidating.  We can use this."  So Neil started walking, or actually more like storming, to the front of the bus.  The driver looked up the aisle and saw him coming, and suddenly let us all get off and catch other buses.  We got to the train station on time.

We bought ourselves some sandwiches for lunch and got on the train.  It was pretty uneventful.  We had to switch trains at Wigan, and they had appalingly bad bathrooms at that station.  I wanted to have lunch on the train from Wigan to Liverpool but I couldn’t because the train smelled weird.  So we ate in the Liverpool train station.

We found our hotel (a Travelodge in the center of Liverpool) and then went on to the interview place because it was too early to check in.

We had to go through a lot of searches at the door of the building because we still had all our luggage with us.  It was a big pain in the butt.  Then we went up to the interview room, which had glass booths with the interviewer people in them.  We waited for our number to be called.  It didn’t take too long.  They pretty much just took our piles of documents and sent us back to wait.

They called us back and told us that they might have to refer our case to London because I didn’t have enough documentation from October 2005 to May of 2006.  But he said he’d ask his manager if maybe they could put it through here.  So we waited and started quietly freaking out.  My visa expired the next day.  I didn’t know if I would even be able to go home or if I would have to leave the country. 

About 8000 years later (or maybe 5 minutes) the guy came back and said, "We’re going to do it for you."  I didn’t quite immediately believe him.  But he said that there was no question in his mind that we were a legitimate couple and I had good reason for why I didn’t have documentation for that time peroid (I didn’t get any mail).  So since it was 3:30 in the afternoon and they didn’t want that kind of extra paperwork, they put it through.  I just had to wait another 20 minutes or so for the visa to be attached to my passport, and we were done. 

The rest of that day was just kind of a shell-shocked recovery from that meeting.  The only great revelations after checking into the hotel were that a) Travelodge is not a particularly good hotel and b) takeaway food in Liverpool is very cheap, but does not come with forks.

The next day we had breakfast at a little cafe next to the hotel that was cheap and really good.  Then we went to the World Museum of Liverpool, which was free and pretty nice.  Then we went to the Boots (drug store) in the train station to buy the hairbrushes Neil and I both forgot to pack.  Then back to the hotel to order more takeaway food and relax for the night.  (4 kebabs and 4 cans of pop for 12 pounds)

Saturday did not start off well, as it started at 1:15 in the morning with the fire alarm going off.  We stood outside in the cold for a long time.  Neil says ten minutes, but I think it was a long time.  Then the firemen came and decided that the building was not on fire and let us go back to bed.  I hadn’t really been sleeping anyway because the bed was very bouncy.  Like sleeping on a trampoline.  Or possibly a bouncy castle.

We got up later that morning and checked out of the hotel after finishing the rest of our kebabs for breakfast.  We went to the Cavern Club, where the Beatles were discovered.  Then we found a very nice shopping area.  I bought a snoopy scarf and a blue stuffed monkey that I have named MonkeyPuppy.

After that, we met my husband’s parents in the train station (since they live not too far away in Wigan) and had a nice conversation and coffee with them for a few hours.   Then we all got on trains heading home.  We went from Liverpool to Preston than on to Edinburgh.  There were a lot of Girl Guides on our train.  Then we just barely caught a bus home. 

The hamster was happy to see me, especially since I gave him banana chips.  The guinea pigs were annoyed with us.  Fudgie bit Neil when he was sweeping out their cage.  But Neil is getting back at him by giving the piggies baths right now.

By the way, if you could all maybe keep our piggy Spike in your prayers, that would be appreciated.  He’s always been a bit sickly, and lately he’s losing some fur on his belly.  We’re going to try to get him to a vet soon, but we probably won’t be able to get him in any earlier than Friday.

Oop.  Sounds like I need to dry a guinea pig.

Alana 

In case anyone is wondering why I don’t have many black or dark colored shirts at my store, it’s because I can’t get Paint Shop Pro 7 to create a proper transparent PNG file.  I make the file, it looks fine in PSP and then when I upload it to cafepress, the background turns either black or white, totally messing up the dark colored designs.  I’m working on it.

Alana 

A few days ago I found out that a close friend of my family (a man I’ve known since I was about 7 years old) has cancer again.  5 years ago he had colon cancer and was hoping for a clean and clear "5 years cancer free" celebration this year.  Instead, they have found masses in his lungs.  He doesn’t smoke and neither does anyone in his family, so it is likely secondary to his original colon cancer.  Because of this, I’ve decided that if I get more money than I need for my goal, any extra will go to this friend and his family, and if they refuse, it’ll go to a cancer research charity on his behalf.

Alana 

Her blog is called Becks and Posh (cockney rhyming slang for "nosh", meaning food).  It has little to nothing to do with the Beckhams.  This fine example of a blog can be found at http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/

She is English, but living in San Francisco, so she is seeing the whole immigration thing from the other direction.  She’s kind of like the opposite of my food site.  Except that frankly, hers is much better than mine.  She’s a great writer with a beautifully designed blog.   Where I stumble and struggle to say anything that makes sense, she composes flowing prose.  I’m a little jealous, quite honestly.

Alana 

Alana’s

SET(M)

Panic

Attack

Before the 14th of October, 2007 I have to obtain "Indefinite Leave to Remain" in order to stay in this country.  Now, I’m not all that attached to the UK as a country.  But I am pretty seriously attached to my husband, and the house that we have together happens to be in the UK.  And he happens to be a UK citizen, so it would be more immigration paperwork and cost if we moved anywhere else.  So one way or another I have to dig through annoying red tape, and I already have a job and a house here.

At the beginning of the year I checked the Home Office web site to see what I need to get my Indefinite Leave to Remain.  I need to file form SET(M) and I prefer to go for an interview in Glasgow so that I’ll know right away whether I need to quickly pack my bags.  When I checked back in January that was going to cost me £500 (US$993), but there was a notice that certain policies and things would change after April 1st, so I’d need to check back.  So I did.

First of all, I need to pass a test.  Probably not a problem.  I’m good at remembering random information.  With a little studying I should do fine.  But the one change that made me gasp and nearly say something entirely obscene in my office was the price change.  The form and interview are now going to cost me £950 (US$1888).  That’s a buttload of money.  That’s approximately the cost of my wedding.  That’s how much I spent on airfare and shipping to move here in the first place.  But when I paid for those things, I was living with my parents in a country with a much lower cost of living, so I had spare money.  I do not have spare money now.

So I’m seriously hyperventilating.  How am I going to pay for this, and keep paying all my other bills?  Then I thought, "Maybe the internet people can help."

I think you can help.  Here are a few ideas:

1. If you’ve ever wanted to buy anything from my online shop, but kept putting it off, now would be a great time.  New products are being added and the direct printed t-shirts at cafepress are quite nice.  And the cookbook is still for sale!

2. Keep an eye on my blog for things I am selling on eBay.  I’m planning to crochet things to sell to raise money.  

3. Buy advertising space on my site.  If you have a web site you would like me to promote, I will link to it and do a whole blog post about it for a mere £5 (US$10).  I get well over 1000 hits a day, so it could maybe be worth your money.  (I’m going to have to insist on no porn sites and no pyramid schemes or anything that’s a scam.  If you’re not sure, email me the site first before you send me any money.)

4. Donate money directly to me.  You won’t get any toys or t-shirts, but it is fast and easy and any little amount is still helpful.  Just use any of the donate buttons on any page of this web site.

If you don’t have any money:

5. Tell your friends about how much I need money.  Maybe one of your friends is desperate for a t-shirt or a crocheted thing.  If you have a blog, maybe you could mention me, with a link to this page.  

6. Sell your stuff on eBay and give me some of the money.  Like a charity sale, maybe.

The form filing is costing £950, the test costs £35, the study guide for the test costs £10 and train tickets to Glasgow for the interview will be around £20.  That’s a total of $1055 (US$2095).  That’s over twice what we expected to have to pay for all this immigration junk.  Why are there so many illegal immigrants?  Because being legal is gut-goringly horrifically expensive.  (It would probably be far cheaper to buy a fake British passport, but I can’t really do that cause of how it’s illegal.)

I’ll keep you posted on how the fundraising is going.  If I happen to raise more than I need, I will donate the extra to a charity to be determined later.

Alana