progress, perhaps

Well Ramadan has now started and here in the Magic Kingdom that means that most commercial activity is displaced by about 12 hours.

Only a very few of the shops are open during the day, the pattern seems to be most places open at 8pm and close at about 3am the nexrt day. Makes it a bit tricky nipping round the corner for a carton of milk, but you cant drink the milk during daylight hours anyway, so I guess it doesnt really matter.

the paperwork seems to be progressing, I went into the traffic police offices, along with some of my new colleagues, to get our local driving licences. There was an eye test, we jokingly said (pointing a finger in two stabbing motions at our colleagues faces) 'one, two, passed!' . The eye test was a little more stringent than that, but not by much. An overheard comment from another western ex pat was "why bother to test the eyes, no-one here looks when they're driving so it doesnt matter if they can't see' A litle harsh perhaps, but I do know what he means.

Then came the blood test. I was pleased to see that they were, as a matter of course, using a new, sterile needle for each person, so some things have improved, but the technicians doing the tests had no examiination gloves or any other kind of protective gear. Not an ideal situation since there were a good many people there from all over the world and so the technicians were potentially exposing themselves to almost every kind blood born infection.

I quite like taking a blood test, though. It's the only test I ever get an A+ for!

We then joined the queue for paperwork processing only to be told 'hallas, computer full'. Hallas means finished, I am unsure if thats the correct spelling. Hmm, the computer is full? Oh well, no point in arguing, arguing will only make the man lose face and then he'll never process the papers. Best to come back the next day. Fortunately this last bit doesnt need our personal attention and my employer will send a chap to sort it out, rather than have four teachers away from classes again.

My mutliple exit visa is promised in a few days, Insh'Allah, I have my bank account now and Jummah, one of the Govt relations chaps from work who helps process all these things, assures me that he will do his utmost to ensure that I will have Mrs Gnomad's visa in time for the Eid break, so all is, apparently, progressing.

I actually managed to get to the offices of my favourite airline (favourite as in most used, not necessarily best liked) and have got flights booked for myself and Mrs Gnomad for the Eid break and for Christmas too. These latter set of tickets are freebies, cashed in frequent flyer miles providing us with round trip tickets from the Magic Kingdom to Good Old Blighty (Huzzah!), just taxes and airport fees to pay. Not an inconsiderable amount of money but the cost in total is less than a fifth of what it would have been if we were paying full whack. The added bonus is that the flights dont have to come out of the Christmas pay packet, leaviing this to be squandered on seasonal fripperies instead (Huzzah! again).

All I need to do now is ensure that I can obtain a UK visa for Mrs Gnomad. Another little adventure in the forests of red tape awaits, no doubt.

G