So it’s been a week for post. I find the Police Certificate to be quite amusing really. It has a very officious look to it so you sort of feel like you are getting your money’s worth! It has both a water mark, a deeply unattractive photo of me, a fine looking silver embossed badge at the bottom (like the sort of thing you get on a bank card), and enough personal details for any crook to steal my identity into the bargain.
It arrives through standard first class post – I could have paid extra for recorded express delivery, but I was ground down by constant additional payments so just trusted it to Royal Mail and it came quickly and undamaged. For the record, once I knew what to ask for, this was actually the speediest part of the whole bureaucratic process to date. It was a bit creased from it’s final journey through my letter box, but basically ok. Precautionary paranoia prevents me uploading it in any very accessible form, but you’ll get the general idea – my self-portrait is actually a pretty good likeness! (You aren’t allowed to smile in passport photos remember…)
So right now I’m just waiting for a letter from my GP regarding a health check, and then hopefully, I’m good to go. The next mental anguish will be how to keep all of these vital documents safe in transit. I have scanned them all, and uploaded them to a Google cloud site in a fit of uncharacteristic techno savviness that will leave anyone who actually knows me aghast and demanding to know where the original me has gone and how the forcible abduction and personality transplant has been achieved. It’s amazing what you can learn how to do out of necessity. I’m still not supremely confident with Google cloud, but I am persuaded it is a great way to ensure I can access potentially useful resources from overseas, and if I am unlucky enough to lose passports or other documentation, at least i’ll be able to get hold of copies.
Quietly Terrified 