Thursday, April 17, 2008

A long, long time... An eternity, in fact!

17 iv 2008, Thursday
Day # 8 of waiting, waiting, waiting…
In an hour the electricity’s going to disappear for 2 hours so thought I better respond to my urge to write before that disappeared too! Sitting in my parents’ study (really just one of our bedrooms but only now with the bed replaced by a computer!), an empty cup of coffee near the keyboard I wish could somehow be magically refilled and still smiling from the sms Craig sent me from England a few minutes ago where he mentioned the cost of a rabbit cage is 38 pounds! This may not sound deeply romantic to the bulk of you, but to me this is the most tender thoughtfulness I’ve yet experienced… (A little bit of history to furnish this pretty arb comment: my last two months in England saw me being ‘found’ by the most gorgeous little lop-eared rabbit I called Jack – and Jack, perfectly house-trained, kept me, literally, alive during the worst few months of my life… It is as if her were somehow sent… Since then, and actually even before then, rabbits have featured often in my art and visual journals, having a kind of kindly talismanic power over my heart. And Craig, knowing this, and only having been in England a week, has already sought out a nearby farmer who sells the lop-eared variety I especially adore, selling for 6 quid each… Special, huh?)
[***wanted to insert photos of jack and past bummy-containing art work, but alas this connection is too slow...***]
Though there are two contacts I’ve been blessed with – one in the Pretoria Home Office who apparently only needs a bottle of brandy for his efforts, the other a kindly member of my fiancé’s extended family – none has as yet been able to furnish us with any news of where my passport is in the system. But, seeing as I only applied in Malmesbury early on Thursday morning, it’s no wonder or surprise, I guess! Theoretically, the passport should be ready in 6 to 8 weeks and this will literally leave me with only about a week or so’s breathing space inside my Indefinite Leave To Remain – expiring very DEFINITELY on June 21st. YIKES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Minus a car and minus any sort of cash flow, I’ve embarked on a special (portable!) project to keep me out of mischief/sane/amused/from crying – though it’s a secret surprise for Craig: it is something for our little house in the tiny village of Walgrave near Kettering in Northamptonshire! Other than that, I have made my bed with my own duvet, pillows and white cotton bed linen so I at least feel somewhat ‘installed in residence’ – i.e. feel at home. Every time I need to get dressed, I rummage about in my packed suitcase on the floor – all my toiletries laid out on the floor too… A strange, disquieting place to be, this limbo, this twilight… I don’t sleep much – and when I do, they’re dreams of packing and packing and packing and never having enough space in my suitcase, of Emirates airlines and checking in and weighing my luggage…
And so, I now have plenty of time to write again! (big smile)
I’ve always wished for a very interactive blog (I STILL utterly dislike that word!!) but it seems as if those of my friends who DO read it, are too shy or too pressed for time to add their own words to this story… So PLEASE, oh pretty pretty please, DO add yourself to my story because – a selfish reason really: I want to look back one day and read all the other stories and selves intertwined with mine!
With LOTS of love,
Lisa

1 comment:

Melanie Charlton said...

Lisa - your words are like liquid gold glug glug glugging out of a magic bottle - Superbly creative. LOVE IT! Cant wait to see and touch you in the flesh - so SOON!
Love
xxx