Weight Ticker

Thursday 20 May 2010

God Save the Queen & other trivial issues

Well, congratulate me all...I am now an official subject of Her Majesty.  Yesterday I was presented with my certificate of Naturalisation at the Town Hall by the Mayor. 

It only cost me a measley £720 to apply!!!

I'm an Aussie, married to a Brit and have been married since 1997 and eligible to apply since 2000...but of course who gets round to these things??? It would have been bloody free if I had!

Now days they've brought in a 'Life in the UK' test which everyone must pass. It's a huge thick book you've got to learn and then sit a test on, which of course costs money (can't remember how much) and then you've got to fill in a big form similar to a first passport application and go to a ceremony to collect your certificate.  I can now use this certificate to apply for a British passport (for another £72).  I thought I'd better pull my finger out and get it sorted as they are now talking about bringing in a probationary period for citizenship once granted (I think it's about 3 years), I'm not worried that I'm at risk of getting into trouble with the law, but I don't want to be made to wait another 3 years for a passport as it'll make things heaps easier going on hols with the family etc.

Anyway, job done, I can tick it off the list of jobs that you never get round to that hang over your head for years...like my Aussie back taxes...7 years late...just got the assessment through and I've gotta pay a small fortune in Capital Gains Tax from selling our rental property in Aus last year.

On top of all this, my husband's found a house he wants us to move to...which means finishing off all the jobs at our house, putting it on the market and agreeing a price...of course he thinks it's worth less than the seller does! Good luck with that! It's much smaller than our current house and needs tonnes of updating...but it's rural and private with some land and within spitting distance of the right location so my hubby is desperate to get it as we can't really afford anything bigger and better that has the other credentials and they don't often come on the market in the area and price range.

My son is all set to start at a private secondary school in September which is going to cost a small fortune...so we are going to have to get creative to accomplish all these expensive things in the next few months!! Anyway, we shall see. I'm not going to stress over it. What will be will be as they say.

In other news...my weight has been yo-yoing the self same two pounds for two weeks now!!! I'm so not impressed.  I've been exercising loads more the last couple of weeks, but I've also been quite hormonal so I'm hoping to see that it was a combo of fluid retention and extra muscle weight doing this to me...I took my measurements this morning for the first time since the very start and was glad to see a nice drop in the numbers...I knew I had lost inches, but it was still nice to see expecially as Mr Scale is being particularly evil just now!

6 comments:

  1. Congrats on becoming naturalised. I guess Oz's loss is Englands gain huh. Big step but just right for you by the sounds of it. Good to see the inches coming off even if your scale is evil right now :)

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  2. Congratulations! It seems there are always little pesky things to get done. Good luck on the house front. It is always a pain to move but I hope you enjoy your new house!

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  3. I can just hear your accent thru your written words...it is amazing how that happens. I have a brother in law from England and he is a delight. Good luck on the house front and school front. It does seem never ending doesn't it? But we manage to survive...and with the band we will survive looking GOOD! :)
    Surgery date: May 25
    http://bandedandblogging.blogspot.com/

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  4. Congrats on your naturalisation....will you lose your Ozzy passport too??? Good luck with everything going on

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  5. I can't bring myself to say congrats... big step not being an Aussie any more, braver than me.

    Instead I will say "Good Luck!", and don't piss off the ATO, they will hunt you down and I am sure they have assassins! LOL

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  6. Don't worry girls, I won't lose my Aussie passport...I'll have dual nationality and two passports, yay! Don't worry Deb, I've got no intentions of pissing off the ATO...I'm sure you're right about the assassins!

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