Christine, Wondering

Random Musings of a Human Becoming

Sunday, April 22, 2007

Wishing I had a car already . . .

For years and years I've wanted to go to the ANZAC Day dawn service at Kings Park. But it's just never been feasible because I haven't had transport, or haven't been allowed to use transport I did have access to (Mum was not keen on me driving her car all the way into the city at 3 o'clock in the morning when I'm a night-owl who would only have had a few hours' sleep - not unreasonably!).

This week it occurred to me that this may be the last year I'm anywhere near Kings Park on ANZAC Day, for the forseeable future. Next year and the year after I'll be in the country somewhere (and unless ANZAC Day falls in the school holidays, I won't be able to get back to Perth for it); and after that I'll be in London. Most country towns do have their own small services, and there's even services for ex-pats in London, but the country ones won't be the same quality and I've got no idea whether I'd be able to make my way to the London ones or not - especially as it's not a public holiday in the UK so unless it was a weekend, I'd have to work that day.

And I have no way of getting to the dawn service this ANZAC Day (next Wednesday), unless I walk (for 3 hours, which means leaving around 2am, and therefore having an almost totally sleepless night!) or either take a taxi or find some cheap accommodation in the city that would mean I was right near the shuttle buses to Kings Park . . . both of which are extravagances I can't afford at the moment. So it's not going to happen. Humph! 

/rant

I also have a bad cold courtesy of someone at work (all 5 of us were sniffling yesterday, so probably all of our customers will get it too!) so I don't feel great. Not fair since I had a stomach bug last week! But then I do always get everything that's going around, in cool weather, so I shouldn't be surprised. Damn immune system.

/second rant

I've been having fun the past week reading up on visiting and living in London, courtesy of the Lonely Planet Guide: London and a book called Living and Working in Britain by David Hampshire. The latter is a little out of date - published in 2005 - so I've found a few things that I know aren't correct. But apart from those it's an amazing resource and I'm discovering all sorts of things that I'll need to know but didn't know yet (such as, the UK still has TV licenses lol ). From the Lonely Planet guide I'm getting all excited about how much there is to see in London, let alone the rest of the UK and continental Europe. I can’t wait to go!

I've also straightened out the bits about citizenship/passports etc that I was having trouble with. Mum was born in England but is a naturalised Australian, and she had thought that her new citizenship wiped out her British citizenship. I've found out that she was wrong - British citizenship is an inalienable birthright and she still has it. Which also means that my brother, half-sister and half-brother all automatically have British citizenship by descent.  I don't think they know that! I don't have it automatically because I was born before a law-change in 1983 (when automatic citizenship for descendants was granted to the children of female citizens as well as male citizens) but all I have to do is apply and I can have it. That gives me a British passport and the right to work unhindered in Britain for as long as I like. Good, good 

Only 2-and-a-bit years . . . !

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