Here's a friendly tip: profile your taxi driver before you get in his car.
Yesterday I received some shocking news about my marriage visa and another 3 hour interview and another £600 payment would need to be made. I went off the deep end a bit about it on the phone to Chris in the afternoon because I do feel like a second class citizen and am so tired of discussing my personal relationship with strangers in a formal matter. It's unnerving and feel it's demoralising considering I'm educated, speak the language am from the Common Wealth. Clearly I have a massive chip on my shoulder but it's been over 6 months of this shit and yesterday was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was supposed to meet up with old friends from work yesterday earlier in the afternoon then head over to meet everyone else, presumably for dinner so I didn't eat before hand. A friend met me for a quick tea then we headed to Soho. Evidently dinner was not being had by all and I'm neurotic and can't really eat in front of people when they're not. So I ordered a beetroot tart (beetroot being a new super food that I'm fastly enjoying). Another friendly tip: Try not to drink so much wine when all you've eaten is a nouveau cuisine tart. Not too embarrassing to behold (fingers crossed) and it was great to see everyone from work again. So the evening comes to a close around 10.30 because people have other plans/are exhausted from a heavy work week.
So I plop myself in a taxi and for some reason I get all worked up about my immigration status and the credit crunch and start a friendly conversation with the taxi driver that turns into basically a shouting match. I don't know why but this has happened before (minus the shouting) that I'm picked up by a social conservative- probably a driver for the BNP. He starts yelling at me that I should either leave his country or "pay up and shut up". He was upset that Obama was elected as he doesn't trust blacks or Asians, and when we started discussing education, someone else felt that he had a chip on his shoulder as well. Even sitting in front of my flat we kept arguing (amazingly though, he had turned the meter off). I paid, went upstairs and told Chris then ate some chips.
As awful as it is to hear about someone's racial prejudices, especially from someone who has such an empty argument, it was a bit of an eye opener to myself that I need to chill out. Before coming to the UK I had never thought about immigration, I didn't even give race or religion a real second thought either because I was brought up accepting and acknowledging equality, judgement on character. Now being here and immersed in it, I realise and understand completely why so many people enter this country, enter Canada, enter the US or virtually any other western country illegally. It's an elitist system where money and class coexist. I was so hell bent on being Canadian, being Common Wealth that my right to live here and work here should be granted- but it's not really the case at all. It does have its advantage because I have to take an english literacy test but ultimately it's if you have the money to pay for each phase of acquiring a life here that counts. You have to pay for your visas, cannot recourse public funds however you can't work either when it's being processed so therefore you have to have money to live on essentially for 6 months.
In an age where education is ubiquitous and where we're shifting from being cash rich and time poor, it's interesting to field these questions. I'm so sick of ranting about this because I'm losing my point but my own social prejudices are being questioned and the idea that this is not equality for all is quite demeaning. I'm fortunate enough to have the funds to support myself and this stinky bureaucratic process and yes as a Canadian I feel that I have a certain entitlement to be here, living and working with my British husband however I'm sure there are many, plenty of others who aren't as lucky.
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