The state of our things
Sep. 15th, 2025 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mtbcR. and I sometimes head into Edinburgh on the train for in-office work, sometimes on separate days, sometimes together. Today, R. went in, and I stayed home and helped out with pet care. I hope that I am becoming more productive as I grow more familiar with my employer's codebase. I also look forward to getting around to personal programming projects at home but not quite yet it seems, still I have to figure how and when to fit that in. A task this evening is to schedule our influenza vaccinations. COVID-19 vaccinations are becoming a distant memory, it's a pity our BUPA health insurance doesn't reimburse them.
R. and sons' family visa extensions were approved which is an excellent thing we don't now have to worry about for a couple more years. That is the most expensive parts of the process behind us, given that they included covering five years of NHS surcharge for three of us. However, current application fees for the next stage are over £3k per person which, like the other fees, is unconscionable, plus more money if one wants to be able to leave the country in the months following. I shall probably be taking out a new visa fees loan before having paid off the current.
Yesterday, I finally got around to re-filing many of the papers I'd pulled as candidates for evidentiary support for our visa extension applications. There is some new advance planning to do for future steps. For instance, citizenship referees must know applicants for three years and include somebody from a registered profession, like with countersigning one's first British passport photograph. Goodness knows who might fit that bill for everybody but at least we know that's coming. Naturally, the better-heeled would have an easier time finding such among their acquaintances. (As a Chartered IT Professional, I would qualify, except for also being a relative.)
I read John Wiswell's Someone You Can Build a Nest In which was gentle and engaging. Whether in science fiction or fantasy, I always enjoy insight into a fairly non-human character. Definitely a nice enough way to pass the time. (Though, R. noted that it is far more gory than I had noticed, somehow that all passed me by.) I might be running out of television to watch, though. There is a bit more Chief of War left but it is far more buttocks than smiles and R. noted arrant ahistoricity in the portrayal of Zamboanga (languages, buildings, clothing). We are giving The Mayfair Witches a try on Netflix, R. read the books long ago.
A local Tesco Express convenience store has opened quite near us so we have a very handy source of heavily discounted food that must be sold before it turns into a pumpkin, assuming it isn't already one. So, among other things, we found ourselves eating sandwiches recently. With luck, the store will soon correct their loud alarm siren that warns whenever somebody outside walked near the customer entrance.
R. and sons' family visa extensions were approved which is an excellent thing we don't now have to worry about for a couple more years. That is the most expensive parts of the process behind us, given that they included covering five years of NHS surcharge for three of us. However, current application fees for the next stage are over £3k per person which, like the other fees, is unconscionable, plus more money if one wants to be able to leave the country in the months following. I shall probably be taking out a new visa fees loan before having paid off the current.
Yesterday, I finally got around to re-filing many of the papers I'd pulled as candidates for evidentiary support for our visa extension applications. There is some new advance planning to do for future steps. For instance, citizenship referees must know applicants for three years and include somebody from a registered profession, like with countersigning one's first British passport photograph. Goodness knows who might fit that bill for everybody but at least we know that's coming. Naturally, the better-heeled would have an easier time finding such among their acquaintances. (As a Chartered IT Professional, I would qualify, except for also being a relative.)
I read John Wiswell's Someone You Can Build a Nest In which was gentle and engaging. Whether in science fiction or fantasy, I always enjoy insight into a fairly non-human character. Definitely a nice enough way to pass the time. (Though, R. noted that it is far more gory than I had noticed, somehow that all passed me by.) I might be running out of television to watch, though. There is a bit more Chief of War left but it is far more buttocks than smiles and R. noted arrant ahistoricity in the portrayal of Zamboanga (languages, buildings, clothing). We are giving The Mayfair Witches a try on Netflix, R. read the books long ago.
A local Tesco Express convenience store has opened quite near us so we have a very handy source of heavily discounted food that must be sold before it turns into a pumpkin, assuming it isn't already one. So, among other things, we found ourselves eating sandwiches recently. With luck, the store will soon correct their loud alarm siren that warns whenever somebody outside walked near the customer entrance.
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Date: 2025-09-16 02:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-09-21 09:06 am (UTC)