PART THE FOURTH!!!! Of my England diary, or, a Texan in Old Blighty

Ben Reilly wrote:So I'm back in England already, in what Maddog observed was barely enough time for me to change underwear! (Not only did I change my underwear each of the 16 days I was in Texas, MD, I even began a new job and worked nearly four full-time shifts before quitting -- so there.)

The why is the interesting part of this story, so I'll start there:

It all began on Tuesday of this week, when eddie got a text from our solicitor asking if we both could visit his office later the same day. She explained that I was out of the country until next month, but could we schedule a meeting then?

He rang her straight away, saying basically that I needed to get my ass on a plane as quickly as possible so that we could try an entirely different strategy of getting me legal residency in the UK.

Because of a convergence of factors including the Covid-19 pandemic and Brexit, there now seems to be a unique opportunity to argue before a court that as I've spent most of the past 18 months in the UK, I'm an integral part of my family in the UK and that it's my human right to remain with them.

This argument wouldn't work, obviously, if I hadn't been living this weird back-and-forth life since the last week of 2018. And it wouldn't work without my 8-year-old stepdaughter needing me around to make sure she's fed and safe going to and from school.

So that's what we're going to try now! Our lawyer is a very measured, careful man, and I'm very excited because he's not the type to try to shoot the moon.

Eddie's mother came through with the airfare, and I was back on a now-familiar journey that I found goes much more smoothly when you start by going to the right airport. The entire trip was hitch-free, and I learned I really should stop worrying about the UK authorities letting me back into the country.

I saw eddie again and it was like we'd been separated for a year. I'll leave it at that, actually ...

But from the moment I could see out the windows of Heathrow, I felt calm, like I'd finally come back home.

Ben Reilly wrote:Words of wisdom, Didge. I'm trying to live more like that.

In fact, I made a little pact with myself -- if I wasn't stopped and grilled at the border, I told myself, I'm going to stop worrying so much and just sort of let the universe take care of me.

So now I have to live up to that

A little anecdote from my journey:

I was seated near a young woman on the first of the two legs of my flight. We didn't speak much, but it was pretty weird when I took a seat on the train at Holburn Station and she sat across from me, with her fiance in tow!

She immediately pointed me out to him and said, "I sat next to him on the airplane from Texas!" So I had to know their story.

Turned out they're engaged; she's first-generation Texan born to Romanian immigrants, and he's Romanian, living in Stratford. They met because their parents are great friends back in Romania, and they're working on a fiancee visa.

They were pretty amazed to find themselves sitting across from another Texan working on a visa with someone who lives fairly close by

Tommy Monk wrote:



Back in 'Blighty', eh Ben...!?


What did I say about it not taking long...!?


Welcome back with open arms, big boy...!





Get yourself a chicken Madras to celebrate with!

Ben Reilly wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:



Back in 'Blighty', eh Ben...!?


What did I say about it not taking long...!?


Welcome back with open arms, big boy...!





Get yourself a chicken Madras to celebrate with!

Thanks, Tommy! Very nice of you.

We did celebrate with a meal and I did have chicken -- but it was my first time to have jerk chicken, as we ordered from a Caribbean place. Also had some excellent rice and peas and macaroni & cheese, it was fantastic.

We'd been planning jerk chicken for the dinner when I got back since before I left, and oddly enough, one of the dinner choices on my flight back to Texas was jerk chicken. I opted for pasta, as I was not going to try jerk chicken for the first time on an airplane

gelico wrote:

i didn't know you'd been back to texas ben.  wishing you the very best for the solicitors meeting.

i know this is a long shot but do you think if i emailed your solicitors supporting your claim and giving my own reasons for it, would it help at all.  i know i'm no one important but letters of support from anyone who aleady knows you in England handed into the court might just make a difference.

let me know, i'm more than happy to do this if you think it might have the slightest impact

also great story about the other passenger x

Ben Reilly wrote:In what must be some kind of record, 10 days ago I applied for a UK family visa, and today, my solicitor has told me that I am now a legal resident of the United Kingdom!

Maddog wrote:That's great news. You two deserve to be happy without having to worry about some silly government meddling with your relationship.  

Take a few days to celebrate, then start looking for a job on Monday.  

eddie wrote:It’s such a relief.
Weirdly, we always both said that we thought the visa would be approved in October...for no reason whatsoever.

It was approved on the 28th, the same date that my best friend Lisa died three years ago and also six years to the day Ben and I became Facebook friends.

Strange coincidence.

Also, I booked that day off work as the start of a five day paid holiday from work about three months ago....

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:It’s such a relief.
Weirdly, we always both said that we thought the visa would be approved in October...for no reason whatsoever.

It was approved on the 28th, the same date that my best friend Lisa died three years ago and also six years to the day Ben and I became Facebook friends.

Strange coincidence.

Also, I booked that day off work as the start of a five day paid holiday from work about three months ago....

Could be Lisa was orchestrating it from above

Ben Reilly wrote:Beginning early one morning back in July, which was to be my first full day working at Walmart, when eddie called me to tell me that our solicitor said I was needed back in the UK by the end of the week, because he'd come up with a plan to change my visa application from spouse to family, I had a very strong feeling that I was going to get it. I really did think it would be this month as well, for no particular reason.

When we finally got the application off 12 days ago, I still felt it was going to come this month, then I'd tell myself I was being ridiculous because the government advises it could take at least three months for a decision to be rendered. Then, lo and behold, it only took 10 days.

I guess we had a strong body of supporting evidence! Either that or they saw an American with the surname "English" and just felt they had to do it, if only for a laugh

eddie wrote:Syl, for goodness sake don’t come up with an English-skating-drivein-movie English themed thing.

Syl wrote:

eddie wrote:Syl, for goodness sake don’t come up with an English-skating-drivein-movie English themed thing.

I'm seeing you in  Union Jack roller skates, red white and blue painted snails....this could really work.

Ben Reilly wrote:Though thanks to my growing understanding of UK slang, if I ever did establish a pub I'd really like to call it "The Poncey Nonce."

Ben Reilly wrote:Though thanks to my growing understanding of UK slang, if I ever did establish a pub I'd really like to call it "The Poncey Nonce."

Victorismyhero wrote:with union flag snails

eddie wrote:

Victorismyhero wrote:with union flag snails

Please Vic, don’t encourage Ben and Syl. They get very silly this time of night with their stupid ideas.

Ben Reilly wrote:I could someday be the proprietor of "English's English Pub."

Yes, my surname is English, and that was a hoot when I went to get my biometrics done. One of the security guys said, "They'll whisk you straight through mate!" He was right!

Tommy Monk wrote:


You're one of us now dude!

Ben Reilly wrote:Haven't posted on this one much lately! I think it's probably because, somewhat sadly, I'm getting pretty used to it over here. England was always sort of a magical place to me before, now it's home -- often great, but also often just where I live.

I did want to share this, though -- I was counted on my first-ever UK census recently, which is pretty cool to a government nerd like me. And in what I take to be a proud tradition of taking the piss out of the UK census, I listed my "preferred national identity" to be "Texan British."  

Ben Reilly wrote:

Tommy Monk wrote:


You're one of us now dude!

You know, it's a process, but I do find myself reacting to things and even talking much more like an English person than I used to do.

Never in my life would I have predicted, for example, that I'd one day salivate at the promise of a "sarnie" from eddie In Texas we just call them sandwiches, or in some extreme and annoying cases, "sammiches."

Ben Reilly wrote:So, of course, the story never ends until it finally does ...

I'm still looking for work. I've had a few people come through for me with short-term jobs, but I've applied to literally hundreds of openings and only had two interviews. One I didn't get flat-out, the other I realized I couldn't do because of transport and had to bow out.

I had one other job I applied for that included an assessment to progress to the next stage. I needed to get at least 80 percent on an editorial test that had to do with finance and cryptocurrency, which I know nothing about. I got 79 percent.

Just last week, I had an office job where they contacted me 10 minutes after I applied to ask if the commute would be too bad for me. I said no, it would take 30-45 minutes to get there. Then they asked if I could do an interview the next day, but I didn't see the message for five hours because I was busy.

I got back to them and let them know my availability. I still haven't heard back from them.

I think that because it's much harder to get fired in the UK, that's created a situation where it's also much harder to get hired. I'm just looking for a chance to work my ass off and keep my family from struggling financially.

Also, there's the matter of the pandemic making it harder to find a job, since there are so many other people looking. And not having a car or being a British citizen has cut me off from other job possibilities.

But it's been hard, really hard. I've never been jobless this long in my life -- the only other time I've been unemployed before, I found another job within a month.

Frankly, it's depressing to get so many rejection emails, and to get my hopes up only to have them dashed. Some companies have rejected my application literally hours after I sent it. At times, silly I know, but it's made me question whether I have anything to offer an employer any more.

Ah well. I know this won't last forever, but it sort of feels like it already has.