Filthy/gorgeous

I’ve been listening to the Scissor Sisters a lot in the last week and have moments of dancing round the room to the above (obviously when Duncan is out).

I’ve been meaning to update for a while but never seem to get round to it. Work has been shite, wedding preps have been stressy and I’ve been trying to read loads of books in preparation for last night’s meet and getting rid of some. Let’s start there. The  bookcrossing meet last night was great. It was the first ever Newcastle one and I organised it all. I was really worried that no-one would turn up but last week Lucy and Zoe (lucy is making my necklace and earrings for the wedding) promised they’d come and when I walked into the venue last night I saw Mark which was a lovely surprise. Along with them one member came from Durham (who I’ve met before) and three new people came as well, so it was quite the success. I took ten books and only came home with nine as well, which was impressive. I’m absolutely knackered today though. I could do with a day’s holiday but have no chance.

Wedding preps are slowly coming together. I had a major stress on Sunday and Monday thanks to Blair pandering to the racist Daily-Mail-reading white-middle-class heart of Britain with his new immigration proposals. Luckily none of them will impact on us, Duncan will have already been granted right to settle by the time of the general election (in fact, he should have it in two weeks time) but it sparked the whole immigration debate and showed just how racist this country can be. I’m sick of the misinformation that exists that all immigrants are sponging off the taxpayer and we should only let skilled people in. If that was the case, Duncan wouldn’t be here. He left school with his standard matric certificate and did a hnd equivilant in Business for a couple of years. He has no degree, was qualified for no particular profession when he came here. He now works at BT and not in the call centre any more but in a job that requires some degree of skill. For his first two years in this country he wasn’t allowed to earn over a certain amount and could really only work part-time. He’s never been allowed a single benefit (even council tax benefit for those on a low income). In fact claiming a benefit will put his visa into question and he’d be more than likely sent home. He’s still a temp cos BT view work permits with some (misguided) misgivings and has no job security. He’s paid taxes for 6 years now, has been to the doctors maybe twice in that time but according to Blair. Howard and the Daily Mail readers, he’s a drain on our society. Most people don’t realise what the immigration system in this country is like unless they deal with it, and I can tell you it’s no fun. £250 for a rubber stamp on his passport?! That’s what we have to pay in two weeks time as well as bringing copious amounts of documentation to prove he’ll be working. If we were getting married in this country we’d have to pay a further £135 for a certificate from the Home Office allowing us to do so.

Sorry, went on a bit of a rant there. Work is pants at the moment. They’ve got me (and only me) trialing some new voice recognition software which means spending 4 hours a day in a room on my own repeating whatever has just been said. It’s lonely, isolating, repetitive and I hate it. But hopefully I’ve only got a week and a half of it left.

Until there is a next time…

xx