The final hurdle: surmounted

[nanila]

This is my British passport.

I'm afraid my first contact with it rather lacked the reverence it deserved. I stepped on the envelope with a muddy welly boot as I walked in the door.

It's been 18 months since I became a British citizen & over a decade since I moved to the UK. I have handed over a lot of money to the Border Agency and jumped through innumerable bureaucratic hoops to achieve this. It means a lot to me. It's the last bit of documentation cementing my life here, with my large partner, chosen children & beautiful mortgage. I may have mixed up my adjectives there. Forgive me. I'm emotional & might need to have a bit of sugar in my cuppa to calm me down.

Yes, my British friends, you're stuck with me now. And I'm also now indistinguishable from you (so long as I don't open my mouth, which is unlikely).


Finally, apropos of nothing, cat and boy.

Comments

[caulkhead]

I stepped on the envelope with a muddy welly boot as I walked in the door.

That sounds very British indeed to me. Congratulations!

[yvi]

Oh awesome, congratulations!

[0jack]

"I stepped on the envelope with a muddy welly boot as I walked in the door."

YOU PASSED THE FINAL TEST.

If you hadn't, it would have self-destructed. :D

[sfred]

Congratulations!

[cosmolinguist]

Congratulations! So relieved this is finally over for you.

[weaverbird]

Congratulations!

[castiron]

Congratulations!

[quoththeravyn]

Woohoo! You may now return your attention to space plasmas, where it belongs. :-)

[cxcvi]

Feel free to do exactly what I did when I first received mine. Youtube Link to help you get the idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qi4jKa6jaek

[rmc28]

:-)

[ceb]

YAY! Champagne and Tunnocks Tea Cakes all round :-)

[sunflowerinrain]

Weh-hey for multiple citizen-ness!

[ayebydan]

♥

[lurkingcat]

Hurrah! Stepping on the envelope was of course a perfectly judged Britishism.

[coughingbear]

Congratulations!

[forthwritten]

Congratulations! Stomping on it with a muddy boot then having to settle your nerves with a brew sounds about right to me.

[samskeyti]

And that adorable British cat! \o/

[pulchritude]

Congrats!

And hopefully you don't mind my asking this, but why don't you try to change your accent? I personally would if I were going to immigrate to the UK (and did change my accent partially whilst I was living there).

[ironed_orchid]

Yay passport!

I'm glad to see Telstar is continuing his important work as guardian of the small humans.

[azurelunatic]

Congratulations! Passport! Family!

[nanila]

Heh, thank you!

[nanila]

So relieved it's finally done. Thank you!

[nanila]

Ahahaaaa. Glad I got that one right! :D

[nanila]

Thank you!

[nanila]

Thank you. It's been a long, exhausting journey.

Still have one more hurdle to surmount for the baby, involving a trip to the US embassy, but that doesn't feel quite as stressful since we've done it once already for Humuhumu.

[nanila]

Thank you! Whee!

[nanila]

Thank you! Looking forward to deploying it in May. :)

[nanila]

Not quite yet, as we still have one more fun trip to an embassy for Keiki's sake. But soooon. :)

[nadriel]

Congrats!

[nanila]

I may have done a dance. A booty-shaking dance. ;)

[nanila]

:D \o/

[nanila]

Ooh, tea cakes. For some reason we've been eating a lot of those recently. *raids cupboard* :D

[nanila]

Yes! Not so easy to achieve - unless you're born into it and your parents take care of it for you. *stares meaningfully at her children* :P

[nanila]

:D ♥!

[nanila]

Stepping on the envelope was entirely unintentional, I must admit. I was carrying a baby and wrangling a toddler. Paying attention to the post on the floor was the last thing on my mind!

[nanila]

Thank you! \o/

[nanila]

Thank you! I've been led to believe that having sugar in your tea is only permitted on particularly emotional occasions, so it felt fairly momentous.

[nanila]

He is rather gorgeous. And such a softie. ♥

[alwayswondered]

YOU MADE IT. So happy that you're finally at the end of this exhausting journey. Welcome home. <3

[nanila]

Thank you!

You know, I've wrestled with this question ever since I moved here. I have conflicting reactions to the idea. Even though I've been here for quite a while, I've still spent the majority of my life in the USA. Giving up my accent, along with all the other adjustments I've made in the spirit of integration, feels like a step too far. It's changed quite a bit naturally, from daily exposure to British accents alone, but I can't bring myself to force it. When I encounter expat Americans who've been here a lot less time than I have but are "faking" a British accent, it makes me cringe. I know this is unfair - it's their choice, and it may be helping them to adapt to the culture - but part of me feels it's inappropriate when you haven't yet, as it were, earned your stripes through duration of stay.

OTOH, I can cosplay an RP accent with a reasonable degree of authenticity now, so I suppose if I practised, it would become second nature and I could always choose whether or not I wanted people to know my origins.

[nanila]

Thank you!

Yes, he does like his hot water bottles. :D

[nanila]

Whee! Thank you!

[nanila]

Thank you! :D

[nanila]

Thank you! At last. Phew. :D

I get to vote in the general election, too. That will be exciting - although it's dampened slightly because I live in a very, very safe Tory area so my vote is unlikely to have any effect at all, given how unlikely I am ever to vote Conservative.

[major_clanger]

Congratulations!

I had a look for pictures of the inside front covers of US passports and I see that you have upgraded yourself from a passport that merely requests that assistance be provided to one where the Secretary of State requests and requires it.

However, I have to advise that these days the implied "...or we send in a gunboat" is rather less strong than it was in 1850.

[silveradept]

Congratulations. For all the trouble that you went through to obtain it, having stepped on it as the inaugural part seems appropriate.

[lark_ascends]

CONGRATS!!!!

And yay for gorgeous photo.