I’ve been high

It’s been an action packed few days, something I don’t want to repeat for quite a while.

On Monday we had the day off work to go to Sheffield. After seeing the snow we cancelled the hire car (visions of being stuck on the A1 in the snow at 3am) and got the train down in the afternoon. We stood outside Sheffield Arena for three hours (which included listening to some of the soundcheck, which was very exciting for me) in the freezing cold, there was no snow luckily. At around 6:30 we were finally allowed into the arena and had to run (as fast as we could given that our feet were near frozen) so we could be very near the front. We managed to get in the second line of fans on the left-hand side of the stage. Those in front were fanclub members who had early entry wristbands. Left hand side of the stage is very important, it’s where Mike Mills stands and he chats to the crowd inbetween songs. Anyway, we defrosted and waited and waited. The support band, Now It’s Overhead did their set – and very good they were too. They’re from Athens, Georgia as well and the lead singer had a voice not too dissimilar to the guy from Placebo (whose name escapes me, I wanna say Brian but I’m not too sure). Anyway, a couple of minutes after they finished, Michael Stipe and Peter Buck took to the stage. My heart sank. It was too soon and the main lights were still on, something was wrong. And indeed it was. Mike Mills has the flu and an ear infection and was unable to play that night so the concert was cancelled and rescheduled for June 15th. I was quite upset (although not as upset as the girl next to me who’d come from Durham and it was her first ever REM concert). To thank the fans for being understanding, they played four songs accoustically before leaving. They did The One I Love, Leaving New York, I’ve Been High and Losing My Religion. We managed to get hom just after midnight (instead of the expected 2:30am) thanks to some late trains and got some sleep but I was gutted to say the least.

Tuesday we had the day off again and were off to Glasgow for the day. We got into Glasgow at 1pm and had a quick taxi ride to the Home Office Public Enquiry Office in the dodgy end of town. 2 and 1/2 hours later, we left with a new shiny stamp in Duncan’s passport and he now has the right to stay here forever. Yeah!!!!! It was a gut-wrenching experience. They mentioned his application 2 years ago (which was made in error, too soon. We thought you could be here 4 years in total, not 4 years on an ancestry visa solely) and I started to worry, thinking it may go against him. But they understood (apparently it happens often, maybe a clarification on the website would stop that?) and it all went smoothly. £250 well spent (well, maybe not well spent but it’s better than £155 and wondering if they’ll get his passport back in time). Apparently it goes up to £500 in April which is shocking but what I’ve come to expect of the muppets in power. This time next year he’ll be able to apply for a British passport (he’s going to go for dual nationality for two reasons – one, we might want to move back there at some point and it’ll be easier if he retains it for that purpose and two, it gives any kids we have the option of nationality – I think it’s important they know about their South African heritage). We got home just before 9 last night and are both back at work today, knackered, a lot poorer but more secure.

Weekend was OK, had a row with my brother, which I’ll go into in a separate entry. I think I’m in the right and so does Duncan (but I don’t think he’d tell me if I was in the wrong cos I was very upset by the whole thing). At the moment I don’t want to see him in May at the wedding reception but that will cause too much hassle so I think I’ll have to grin and bear it (and maybe just ignore the vicious little git)

Until there is a next time…

xx