For those of you who've been reading my blog from the beginning or nearly-so (Herebe, Sal, etc.), you know the story line of my life has unfolded roughly like this:
Chick is lonely
Chick whinges a lot
Chick wants to return to England.
Chick returns to England.
Chick finds man and falls in love.
Chick is in England and no longer lonely.
Fin.
So what does that leave? There needs be a new adventure, a new saga, that you, my readers, may follow with eagerness and anticipation. It should be dramatic, frustrating, heart-felt, and personal. It should be...
The Pangs of Becoming a British Citizen!
And believe me, there are pangs. This will be a long (5 years or more) and arduous (have you seen the Home Office website?) labor of love. And it begins now. Stay tuned.
9 comments:
five years even if you, say, happen to *ahem* marry *ahem* a citizen?
ho lee crap.
i guess it could be worse, though; you could be trying to become a Canadian citizen. talk about a pound of flesh and your firstborn child.
your new apartment is soooo cool, my dear! but i hope you know that one of the first things that highrise dwellers buy is a telescope. i mean the folks living in the place visible through your windows to the left there. them. dirty peepers.
go put something on.
muchas smoochas! fn
Yikes. I'm sure it's worth the hassle, though. Not sure why I'm sure of that. Still, g'luck!
Good luck! you'll need it. Went through it with Judegirl. Eight years,one marriage and three birth certificates later she finally achieved her goal - and promptly moved back to the US!
FN: it's an office building. no one there at night. I have a friend who's trying for Kanuk citizenship. She seems to be under the impression that it's easy. i think she's about to be disallusioned.
Hannah: it will be. can't wait to get that red passport!
HC: !?!?! I didn't know Jgirl moved back. when did that happen? did Jboy go with her? or have they split? *frantically texts Herebe*
Wrong one!
It's Missus Jboy you're thinking and no they haven't split - whereas I meant the real Jgirl who lived with us in London. It all gets a bit confusing and probably best not to go into it.
whew. that's a relief. It would have been an awful shame if Jboy's matrimonial bliss was so short-lived.
Jboys matrimonial bliss is linked to his widescreen telly.
British Citizenship? Please...
There's no such thing as British! FFS! WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN! There's English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh all lumped together in a political construct. You don't get a Welshman proclaiming his Britishness, do you? Or a Scot proclaiming his love for Britain? No, you fucking don't. Only the English are forced into doing this by the legions of political correctness gone fucking mad. I'm English. Not British. Because there is no 'British.' Like all race, nation, nationality and national identity it is a politically constructed concept with no bearing in reality. And, if that is the case, which it is, then I refuse to be it. At least let me be the non-existent nationality of my choice (English, not British). Likewise, if you become British, we'll fall out. Become Welsh, become Irish, become Scottish, become English but don't become some happy clappy we're all peppers here concoction of shite.
oh my fuck. MUST you turn everything into a tantrum? i KNOW that culturally speaking there is no such thing as British, that's it's an artifical political construction. But it is that same artificial construction that hands out passports, visas, and says who's allowed to come and go. So culturally, yes, the term is crap. LEGALLY, that is the correct term. Get over it.
No, I only bother engaging with things I feel passionately about. The issue of national identity is one I feel very strongly about because my national identity is denied me. If I'm a Scot, a Moslem, a whatever then when I fill in my bank forms or my mortgage forms or my university enrolment forms then I'm allowed to be who I am. If I'm English, I have to be 'white other.' I'm not white other. I'm English. If we're prepared to grant other ethnic minorities the right to their ethnicity then English people should be allowed the right to theirs.
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