drydruid and ollie’s travels

I have no explanation why the UK student visa was so much easier to obtain.  Perhaps it was the multiple trips to the Chinese bureau that made it seem easy in comparison?  In any event, I printed off the form, took my picture and went by.  The first snag was that the photo must have a white background (it doesn’t say that on the form).  Rather than lose our parking place, we decided to trot down to Foto Gulf .  Not quite a mistake, but close.  Clearly we forgot that Doha in August is hot AND humid.  None the less, we made it down and I requested new photos figuring I could get them and return to the consul before the lunch break.  Easy, yes?

No.  For some reason they have abandoned the Polaroid camera which delivers perfectly good images in about 30 seconds.  They are now modern and thus had to use a digital camera, download to a computer, use the printer…..all taking about 45 minutes.  I was hot and aggravated resulting in my glaring at the camera.

We did  get back in time, barely, and submitted the papers.  The next day they called and asked if I really wanted a student visa and were the dates accurate?  My age must have confounded them.  I assured them that all was correct, and the next day had a visa.

Glaring at a camera is never a good thing.  The photo is on the visa, pasted in my passport and I will have to live with it until it expires in 2013.  It’s one I’m not putting on the blog.