Thursday 26th February 2009

Back up to London today to the Embassy and I must say today's experience was very very different from the first and I was pleasantly surprised.....let me tell you I was dreading the experience in the worst possible way.

After a couple of false starts, wrong turns, 4 train changes and one traumatic escalator trip balancing Nick on the step in front of me I finally arrived at the Embassy 30 mins before my appointment only to hear my name being called by a young Indian girl just as I lurched through the door. I rushed to the counter and literally thrust all my paperwork at her and stood waiting like a deer in headlights while she went through them, dreading the shake of the head that indicated there was a problem.

When it finally came I nearly burst into tears imagining that I was once again going have to attempt this trip, but she kindly told me the problem and said that as it was before my allotted appointment time I could go and correct the paperwork and give it back to her.....one frantic text message to SA and armed with the necessary info I completed the new form in record time. My second trip to the counter however also resulted in a problem as I hadn't produced the required registered self addressed envelope (how I was supposed to know to produce this envelope I am still trying to work out as there is no mention of it on the web).

After a quick discussion with security I was able to ascertain that the closest post office was approximately 750m up the road and I could get the envelope there.....wonderful.....except that the Embassy closes for lunch between 1.30 and 3pm (don't you wish you had that kind of job) and as it was already 1.10pm the chances of me getting back before they closed was slim to nothing, meaning I would have to wait until 3pm and then try and catch tubes and trains home right in rush hour and that is not something I was looking forward to with Nick.

My solution, much to the surprise of the security guards and vast numbers of tourist, was to take off at a run and I am sure there are still people out there talking about the mad woman running full tilt though Trafalgar square pushing a pram at lunchtime lol. Needless to say I arrived at the post office only to find the longest queue imaginable (of course) and just as I had decided that I was going to have to accept my fate I was called to the front of the queue and told that pregnant ladies and ladies with babies were always given priority......yippeeeeeeeee.....

By now it was 1.23pm so with envelope grasped tightly between teeth I hit the pavement again at breakneck speed and swung into the Embassy totally out of breath and sweating (Nick + Pram = 17kgs) at 1.29pm. The very kind security man didn't let me into the Embassy (seems the close at 1.29pm) but he did take the envelope from me and get it to the necessary person. So after everything I was triumphant and came home feeling very proud of myself.

Bit of a sad end to the day as the wonderful photoshoot which had me so excited last night has unfortunately been cancelled. We are going away that weekend and it would seem that the family that booked the shoot won't all be together on the Friday and can only make the Saturday......and for once I have put my family (and the Andrew family) ahead of a fledgling business and I am going with them instead of staying behind to do the shoot.....it breaks my heart and makes me nervous as the phone hasn't exactly been ringing off the hook, but I have put my faith in God and if it is meant to work it will, it is a numbers game after all and if nothing else I am used to those!