Day 798 The day

15th October 2019

The drive was familiar, the same rush hour traffic hold-ups, the same ominous sunrise, this day was beginning.

I climbed the stairs from Vauxhall tube station, the queues at the bus stops snaked around.

The ten minute walk past the endless construction sites building vast steel and concrete skeletons were irrelevant to me.

The American Embassy shone like a beacon of gloom. It’s blandness feebly enhanced by sail like features, that will get grubby, and end up as a giant death shroud symbolising what the building really is.

The queue outside was small compared with last time, so progress through security was faster, but the long queue started inside the compound.

The sky was blue, the clouds seemed to sail around a no-fly zone, it’s funny what you notice when you are waiting.

Eventually I got my number, V123, I should remember that. I walked to the lift, I knew the way up to the first floor.

I then sat waiting, watching the numbers on the screen.

When my number was called, I was ushered to a privacy room, mmm this is different.

There was a pleasant English girl behind the screen, she didn’t have the usual demeanour of most Consular Officer that come with a stick up their ass, no, she made me feel welcome.

She went through the process taking the fingerprints and attaching my photograph to the forms, but instead of handing them back to me she said that my folder would follow me down, mmm this is really different.

I waited at the other area for my interview.

I waited and waited as the room emptied, I expected them to hand me a broom to sweep the place.

I guess the “V” numbers had some significance, as there seemed to be very few issued.

My number appeared on the screen, the choirs sang. I expected the screen to show “And finally V123”

I was summoned to another privacy room only to be told that someone else would deal with me, mmmm this is definitely different.

I walked to window 10, behind the screen was a middle aged woman furiously tapping the keyboard, boy, she must get through lots of them.

What followed were the oddest few minutes I have ever encountered at the Embassy before.

There was no bluntness, no trick questions, she just pounding the keys continuously as if play a game, she finally stopped, looked again at the screen, made a odd movement with her lips, turned to me and stamped my application “Visa approved”

Should I plant a big kiss on the glass, or punch the air? Instead I gave a subdued “Thank you” and walked away as if nothing special had happed.

The air outside smelt sweet, I tried to call Kelli.

She did not answer, but called me back soon after.

“ Hi Girl” I said in a somber tone, “ Well I did my best” leaving a short pause. I could tell a despondent sigh from her, “but they approved me anyway”

What happened next would live on in my memory for ever. There was a silence, then a high pitched scream, then a mixture of laughing and crying, something that she does often, but not to this extent, it just kept going, I was worried she would run out of breath and collapse on the floor, I guess she was pleased with the outcome.