2007-09-10

Neither sleet nor snow

Bless their little hearts. The Home Office, after being informed by me that the claim that was made in their previous communication with me could not possibly be true, sent me this corrective note today:
Dear Applicant, Your documents and letter were actually sent back to you by airmail on the 28th of August. Please allow up to twelve weeks for delivery.
Regards,
Twelve weeks to receive a letter! What dread postal service dogpaddles off Albion's shores?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Sheffield Office of the Immigration and Nationality Directorate is particularly bad - inefficient, impossible and increadibly indifferent and unhelpful on the phone. But remember the Home Office (= Ministry of the Interior) is the most wrecked and disorganized ministry in the whole of the UK and the IND's unspoken brief, however, is to keep foreigners out of the country for as long as possible. Your best hope is to ask George Bush to annex the UK as the 51st state, but failing that hang in there... SSEES needs you

Eric Gordy said...

If we must make some picturesque island the 51st state, it should be Mali Losinj.

Anonymous said...

Eric, this is Rick Wiechmann from Clark University. I am not sure how else to get in touch with you now that you have moved to London. I am interested in talking to you about a possible grad school recommendation. If you could please get back to me at my new clark address at rick.wiechmann@alumni.clarku.edu
I hope that you are doing well in London. Clark will not be the same without you. You were an amazing professor and I learned a great deal from you.
Thank you,
Best Wishes
Rick

samarkeolog said...

They'll probably sit in a pile to-be-delivered for nine of them. I understand that, in Cyprus, it takes longer for letters to get across the island that it takes for them to get to it from Britain. Here, at least, if you go "early" and ask, you can normally collect your post...

Katja R. said...

That's it, the British have joined the 3rd World! Mail service to and from ANY Balkans country is better.

Eric Gordy said...

I dont think that the problem is with the postal service.

Anonymous said...

Eric, don't be so sure. They are *all* out to mess us up - Home Office and Royal Mail are prime examples of institutions that have gone desperately wrong over the last twenty years. The one thing you can take comfort from is the fact that both are so disorganised and clueless that they are unlikely to succeed in any attempt at collusion.