Funny thing happened on the way to Sheffield

Jason’s visa finally came through! Thursday morning a woman called for Jason regarding the visa. I spent a frantic 20 minutes figuring out how to bleep him thinking that something else had gone wrong. It turned out that the paperwork was done and we could pick it up- in Sheffield

The DfES, Department for Education and Skills, closed at 5.00 and the train got us there at 4.38. Thinking it would be a long but potentially pretty drive we decided to drive. Turns out, either way we were screwed.

Storm Kryill lifted roofs off of homes, turned lorries on their sides, and blew down brick walls. There was footage of Dutch people being blown off their bicycles and stranded boats being blown out to sea. It was the worst windstorm to hit Britain in a decade with winds up to 100mph. It was on this day that it took us 7 hours- 7 HOURS – to drive 147 miles to Sheffield. We didn’t make it by 5.00.

The traffic was unfathomable. At one point the entire highway was shut down in both directions. No idea why. It just was. At another point we were stop-and-go for 2.5 hours for no reason that we could discern. It was pouring in Sheffield and, as luck would have it, there were conferences. Three hotels later, drenched and without toothbrushes, we got a hotel room at the swankiest hotel in town.

By 8ish we had borrowed toothbrushes from the front desk and gone in search of dinner. On a seemingly deserted street we found an Ethio-Cuban restaurant.



Did you know there was such a thing? It was surprisingly good. BUT the BEST part of the day. I found my new favorite tv show. Its “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” meets “Who’s Line” meets “Daily Show.” Mock the Week- the best show on BBC 2. Ever wonder where John Oliver came from????

In the morning we walked to the DfES and pretended not to know eachother because it is illegal for Jason to have any dependents. At 9.05 they came downstairs to have him sign his shiny new visa and, wait a second, wouldn’t you know it..the passport number was incorrect. At 9.45 Jason finallysigned off and we were able to go home.

The drive home took 2.5 hours. That’s it. No traffic. No closures. Nothing.

blustery day

(this was written before we got he phone call from the woman in Sheffield)

From: Winnie The Pooh and the Blustery Day
Written by: Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Performed by: Sterling Holloway [Pooh]


Hum dum dum ditty dum
Hum dum dum

Oh the wind is lashing lustily
And the trees are thrashing thrustily
And the leaves are rustling gustily
So it's rather safe to say
That it seems that it may turn out to be
It feels that it will undoubtedly
It looks like a rather blustery day, today
It sounds that it may turn out to be
Feels that it will undoubtedly
Looks like a rather blustery day today

Boxes!

Our boxes finally arrived today. 11 boxes full of clothes and things from Cosco. and peanut butter.

TEN pots of peanut butter.

Jason's paperwork has been delayed again because of incorrect signatures.

a warm shower

We got hot water today.

the first day of work

Jason was supposed to start working today, but just before we got here the HR dept. at the hospital was informed that he needed a visa. The paperwork has been started and signatures are being gathered, but until such time as he gets a visa, Jason is a "Nonclinical Observer" and can only shadow people and figure out where in the hospital has the best tea.

On another immigration note. If you ever come to live in England for 6 months don't bring your new bike. It cost me nearly $300 to import my bike because I hadn't owned it for more than 6 months. Strange rule that I don't understand. I think I could have bought a used one here for less. Live and learn.

the Zurich Flughafen

So, we are sitting in a dark terminal waiting for our gate to open and watching the tourism tv over and over again. I suppose we should have read the guidebooks maybe, but it seems that we were supposed to wait out in the mall until an hour before our flight and, only then, venture to our gate. The lights are off and the only people around are two cleaning women and some little girls who are playing in the playground at this gate.

Did you know that Switzerland has four official languages? I had never even heard of Romantsche. Romanish?