I’m sitting in the café at The Filmhouse, waiting to meet a friend for a coffee. It’s blazingly sunny out, and all the people I passed on the street coming here seemed to be breathing a collective sigh for the good weather.
I can’t believe I’m off to Canada in a week. Happily, this time I’m not experiencing any of my usual angst about leaving Scotland. I don’t love Scotland any less for it, but I’m really looking forward to seeing my friends in Toronto, getting into the urban culture there, and sitting in on The Strategic Coach’s workshops — which not only helps with my work, it invariably fills me with ideas for the rest of my projects, too.
Then there’s Prince Edward Island, which is just a joy in the summer. Talking to my folks this morning, I made plans with them to see some theatre there and go to a lobster dinner. Mom also suggested going to the beach, which will be fun. I’m going to book the whole time off and have a proper summer vacation.
As for staying in Scotland, this week I went to the Citizens’ Advice Bureau to speak to an immigration advisor, asking for some direction about what the next steps are for becoming ‘naturalised’ and getting my passport.
It’s pretty involved. I’m eligible for it all, and can do it, but, aside from all the documents I have to fill out (when have I been out of the country? I haven’t kept any of those dates) and get notarised (where do I find a solicitor?), there’s a test. “Life in the UK”, it’s called. I had all the study material already, but it’s been a while since I bought it, and they’ve revised the test material. Apparently it was pointed out that it wasn’t really fair to test new immigrants on questions that most Brits couldn’t answer.
The handbook is written in ultra-PC speak, describing the UK in a kind of “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” way. I can see how that might be necessary and desirable, laying the groundrules for people who might come from more militant cultures or cultures segregated by race or sex, but it hardly reflects the reality of life in Britain, where people regularly call a cornerstore “the Paki” without blinking.
So this will be the first test I’ve taken since graduating from uni in 1989. I’m confident I can do it — I’ve learned an awful lot since then. But stuffing facts into my head for regurgitation on a single occasion is something I haven’t had to do in a long time. I haven’t even learnt lines in over a decade.
And, to cap it off, applying for naturalisation costs — wait for it — £655.
Yeah.
With my “Right of Abode”, I could stay here the rest of my life without having to do any of this. I just couldn’t live anywhere else in the EU. But I intended to stay in Scotland. So, while I want to be able to pass this test, just to feel like I’ve done the work officially required to belong here, I’m wavering on dropping that much cash for no perceptible benefit.
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I originally articled a bunch of stuff that’s come together for me in the last few weeks, but I woke up this morning (Sunday now), and felt a little queasy about the blog becoming a “Yay me!” parade. Suffice it to say that things are working. They’re still work, but the work is working, if that makes any sense. So my overall experience is one of making progress, which is encouraging. I am encouraged.
Oh, and I wrote Chapter Four of Finitude. I’m having fun with this book. It’s been easy to knock out a chapter a week, though I’m not sure how much, if anything, I’ll be able to get done while I’m in Canada.
