viva la visa

Tomorrow - 30 days after applying for my visa - I can officially phone the British Embassy in Canberra to check my visa's status. However, the website already tells me that "a decision will usually be made 12 weeks after the application is received".

This would be fine, except for the ridiculous fact that the Embassy doesn't accept applications more than 3 months before one's estimated date of arrival. Last time I checked, 12 weeks was only a few days less than 3 months. Seems to be cutting it a little fine, considering this ticket into the country cost hours of my time and $1300. And did I mention I had to send my actual passport?

On a lighter note, I'm hoping my application isn't hindered by my embarrassing misunderstanding at the Brisbane office, where I had my "biometrics" taken. On arrival, all I knew was that the procedure involved the scanning of applicants' fingerprints and eyes. Weird, I thought - but we are living in "a post 9/11 world".

So there I sat, in the "biometrics" room. After pressing multiple finger combinations into a small screen, I was told to look at the lens on my left. Time for the eyes, I thought. I fixed my sight on the lens, widened my eyelids, and stared, frozen, ready for my eyeballs to be scanned.

*Flash*

Turns out the "eye scan" was actually a photograph - one that no doubt makes me look like a frightened freak. How embarrassment!