This is a warning to all you thinking of hiring the illustrious George Lombard to help you with your visas..... the man's a trickcyclist!!! I tell you, the likes of Derren Brown & that other chappy, what's his name? Yes, Paul McKenna, have got nothing on our George.... or maybe he's more like Sigmund Freud....now that IS a spooky thought!

As you no doubt know, I've been feeling pretty down recently. My wonderful, talented, clever...(yes, he pays me to say that!) OH got his confirmation a few weeks back from ACS & due to the ongoing situation with my ex, nothing really has been happening.

I've spent some days convincing myself that it's all going to be a colossal waste of money, so why bother? Other days panicking that I'm going to lose the children & yet other days sitting on the sofa doing precisely nothing. I've had the odd contact with George, wondering what's going on, but to be honest, my heart's not really been in it.

This morning however, I wake up early to find an email waiting for us, from the previously-mentioned God-of-Immigration, asking could he use our application for DIAC's test-run of fixing some technical problem? If we agreed, we would have to lodge today or tomorrow, but the fun part would be that OH would get to be able to track the progress of the application "live" as it happens.

For my OH, the opportunity for geekery was just too good to miss, so after initially me thinking "No, we're not ready, I can't be dealing with finding stuff that's packed in boxes", (we're moving house tomorrow) I then had a major collection of motivation, emailed George back & said "Yep, let's go for it!"

So.... visa application now duly on it's way & paid for, ages before I ever thought it would be & I've been hauled from my dank pit of depression thanks to the psychological trickery of Monsieur Lombard, from the other side of the world!

Then, I went round to the new house to collect post & found a letter from ex's solicitors saying that he agrees the contact arrangements I've been trying to get him to fix since January & although that's a very long way from getting the Court Order, it's a superb step in the right direction

So, its been a spooky old day so far today, made even more so by George's comment that he betted I was a Pimms No. 2 Cup girl.....

How the hell did he know that

Great news G!!

You, see, what you don't know, is that George is really, very, very tiny, he can squeeze inside a phone line, so when he calls you or emails you, he sneaks a peak around your house...............

Hope the move goes well hun.

NO!! REALLY??

And he told me he was 6ft 4, with the physique of a rugby player...what a fibber

He tells all the girls that - maybe he can just shrink to fit down the phone line?? So don't be surprised if a full sized Geoge Lombard pops up at bedside one night. (PP has been dreaming about this for years.)

Glad that you're feeling a bit better though. If we had a crystal ball and could see what was going to happen, we'd all be so much less stressed. I'm sure that your court case will go your way - you just don't know it yet.

That sounds very interesting, and also like the processing might be quicker (here's hoping).

Congratulations on applying, and we'll see you in the May thread!

Thank you for the good wishes

I doubt very much that the processing will be any quicker though.... it will be more likely that we will experience double the frustration because OH will be tracking every code change & other geeky stuff that I know nothing about & then telling me about it

You are having a good day aren't you!!!!!!

Mind you, its about time your luck changed for the better

Thanks Nik - yep, it's not been a bad one at all

On the other hand, virtually no packing has been done & the removals are arriving at 8am tomorrow

Frankly my dear, I don't give a damn

Jenn I'm really pleased that things are going your way at last! champagnes on you I take it

Now get your arse in gear and get packing

Good news ... i'll buy the champers