Passport Regained
So, my tall, friendly Moroccan took one look at the typescript and said: right letter, wrong form. Then he said something that set him apart from the rest of Slaka officialdom: Wait here while I go to the typing pool and have it changed for you! What would have taken me another hour, took him five minutes, and after another five I was heading back to the Police Station, where they took the form and said my official Certificate of Loss would be ready in two days time at 11 a.m.
It wasn't.
But at 1:30 it was and I took myself off to the British Embassy with a completed C1 Passport Application and the necessary photos and fee (799 QAR). Ten working days, they said.
The next morning, the Embassy called me. When they started processing the application, my old passport showed up on their database as lost and found. Apparently, a Filipina lady had found it in the street and handed it in to Capital Police Station. Best of all, she had done this on the night I lost it. So, three days before, when I was in the station reporting the loss, my passport was resting in a drawer a mere six feet away. Joined-up policing strikes again.
In fact, I can't blame the police for not making the connection. Lost passports are apparently put into unmarked envelopes and bundled into a drawer. I'd feel lost too. My only remaining regret, and it's a big one, is that the police either did not take, or more likely, did not retain contact details for my Filipina saviour, apart from a Christian name. Thanks and a reward are due if we ever meet.
It wasn't.
But at 1:30 it was and I took myself off to the British Embassy with a completed C1 Passport Application and the necessary photos and fee (799 QAR). Ten working days, they said.
The next morning, the Embassy called me. When they started processing the application, my old passport showed up on their database as lost and found. Apparently, a Filipina lady had found it in the street and handed it in to Capital Police Station. Best of all, she had done this on the night I lost it. So, three days before, when I was in the station reporting the loss, my passport was resting in a drawer a mere six feet away. Joined-up policing strikes again.
In fact, I can't blame the police for not making the connection. Lost passports are apparently put into unmarked envelopes and bundled into a drawer. I'd feel lost too. My only remaining regret, and it's a big one, is that the police either did not take, or more likely, did not retain contact details for my Filipina saviour, apart from a Christian name. Thanks and a reward are due if we ever meet.
Glad you regained your passport! That experience would stress me out!
ReplyDeleteIt did me!
ReplyDelete(BTW, I was going to comment on your recent post on your blog, but I won't share space with you know who. I regret that your piece has been sullied by such savagery).
oh, regarding my recent post (israel 5 yrs)..even though it was not directed at me, but i was disgusted to read those comments.. i prefer to attract reasonable folk as opposed to those that openly advocate genocide!
ReplyDeletewhy don't u comment here about that post? I'm interested to know what you think :-)
All I was going to say is that I agree that it's going to become ever more difficult for the pro-Israel lobbyists in US to secure the sort of funding they've received in the past. If that forces them to accept the need for a negotiated settlement, that's good. However, my personal opinion is that any 2-state solution will have limited shelf life. Solutions that depend on high walls historically are at best semi-permanent. Longer term, all the peoples of the region are going to have to find a way to coexist in a single state (which probably will not be called Israel).
ReplyDeleteWhat a brilliant point of view Paraglider!
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree with you more. To be honest, if Palestine/Israel were the size of, say TEXAS, then a 2-state solution has a hope in working. However we're dealing with a tiny silver of land. The other point that is worth mentioning is that a lot of the areas are holy to two or more religions.. such as Jerusalem or Hebron, and the only way to have a peaceful life there is to share the areas equally.
Hence why i believe a demilitarised secular ONE-STATE solution is key. People will just have to learn to live with each other. Contrary to what nutcases want to say, Jews, Christians and Muslims have lived with each other in peace during certain times in history, why can't we repeat this?
Amen. It needs a lot of goodwill from all concerned to make it happen though.
ReplyDelete