Paulkyville

Though I don't follow sport, I couldn't help but notice that England won the Ashes from the Australians. Now I'm a bit torn; on the one had my home team actually won something (unusual, in itself), but on the other my new home team (well, not quite yet!) lost. So well done England on your victory! And the Aussies will thrash you next time! :-)

No reports for a few days as I've been fighting off a tummy bug. Nasty. Today it is very hot and I'm not looking forward to the train journey home. Not that I ever particularly enjoy the journey anyway, but I suspect this one will be especially unpleasant.

Despite my hopes for a colourful, holographic visa, I get a dull orange-brown thing that looks like it was typed up on a dot-matrix printer. Still, it will get me in to Australia, so I shouldn't complain. Though for the amount of money it cost I would have hoped for something with a few more whistles and bells!

Well, I've got my residency visa. Yippee and all that. But what now? Well, there's quite a bit to organise so I thought I'd make a list and see how we get on: Visit Australia . One of the stipulations for my visa is that I must travel to Australia by 7 th July 2010. This date is not negotiable. So I'm on the look out for as cheap a flight I can find; I want to go at either the end of Feb, March or April (before the Southern hemisphere winter kicks in). I can't do it this year as I don't have enough holiday remaining. It will be a 10 day solo trip (Mrs Paulky and I agree it's a waste of money having to go, but the AHC disagree!) and I'll scope out recruitment agencies, open a bank account and get an Aussie mobile. Sell the house . We want to wait until the Spring of 2010 to put the house on the market; we're waiting for the recession to finish and confidence to return to the housing market before we risk trying to sell. We obviously want to get

Yesterday my passport went on a trip without me, which I think you'll agree is quite unique! Now I have my permanent residency, I need to have the visa applied to my passport, hence its journey. So off to the post office to send it on its way. I always worry when you have to send important documents by post, as the Royal Mail is not always the most efficient service. But I have sent it by special delivery and it will come back the same way, and everything else I have sent that way recently has reached its destination unscathed, so hopefully this time will be no different. I hope it will come back from its solo trip in a few days with a shiny new, full colour holographic stamp, rather than some black ink, barely legible ink blot. After spending over £600 on it, it had bloody better.

Yesterday I received an email from the AHC confirming that my application for permanent residency had been successful! To say I was pleased was quite an understatement! I have to go at least once before 7th July next year, otherwise I have to begin the whole process again, so am planning a quick trip (or as quick as a whole day's travelling there and back will allow) sometime next year, probably March. I think I have now done the easy part; everything that comes next is far more complex and complicated and requires untold bureaucracy and inevitable faffing, as it will involve the British government, as well as having to sell the house for a decent profit and quit my job and say goodbye to friends and family. But for now, there are no more hoops to jump through and I can relax a bit, before the scramble begins. Oh, and Yippee!