Kate is going to China in March and has to get a passport for the first time. She has to provide her birth certificate of course but also proof that one of her parents was born in Australia. If she can't they told her she had to apply for Australian citizenship. It's crazy. I told her I'd send my birth certificate over for her and spent most of the afternoon looking for the bloody thing. I was going to post it express mail this morning but thought I'd ring the passport office to make sure she didn't get the story wrong. No, she has to show mine and hers and they won't accept an extract copy which is all I have, I got it in 1978 just before I got married for the first time. So now I have to apply for a full copy of both mine and hers because she's lost hers. It occurred to me that since we're going up to Sydney tomorrow I'd go into the city and get them on the spot and pay for "urgent". Then I found out there is a registry office in Parramatta so we will leave earlier and call through there before we go out to Penrith and meet up with Ali and Harvey and my sisters. Isn't it ridiculous? Kate was born in Sydney so obviously that makes her an Australian citizen, I don't know why they need to know whether I am in order to issue her with a passport. She's not a minor, she's 22, it's just crazy. Now I've got to pay 60 odd dollars for a birth certificate I don't need. I told her she'd better get me a really nice Mothers Day present this year.
So if you were born after 1986 and neither of your parents were born here you just can't get a passport without applying for citizenship even if you were born here. I'd love to know what genius invented that law.
So I'm trying to get everything packed this afternoon so we can get on the road as early as possible.
I had a bit of a trip down memory lane yesterday while trying to find my birth certificate. I found my first marriage certificate. I looked at our signatures, we were just babies, I was 18 and he was 20. I even dotted my i's with a circle! I don't know why I've kept it all these years, I might see if Ali wants it. I found a photo of her father and I with her as a tiny baby, she probably doesn't have one, she doesn't even remember us being together which is a bit sad.
I have kept a newspaper from the day of each of my four youngest's birth and it was interesting to look back on them. I told Em that when I'm gone she has to look after Sarah's copy, I couldn't bear for it to be thrown out. I found Sarah's tiny pyjama top that she was wearing when she died. I kept it in a bag with one of her soft toys and a favourite bib. I never washed the pj top. We never got the pants back, she was taken in the ambulance in them and a nappy and singlet, I think the coroner took the top off her to to take photos and make sure there were no injuries. I wish I'd thought of the idea to keep the newspapers when my older three were born.
Well I have a piece of beef in the slow cooker for dinner and the gravy and vegetables won't cook themselves.
3 comments:
Arms tightly wrapped around you giving you a long Bear Hug...(((hugs)))Pat
Rules don't seem to have to make any sense. You just have to do what is required.
I wish i had thought to save a paper from the day each of my kids were born. Good idea.
It is easy to get lost on trips down memory land. You never know quite where it will lead.
I wish I had done that re the paper - how sad re Sarah's. It is funny but I kept a yellow pillowcase Don had with him at the end - and never washed it because I wanted the smell and because he laid his head there - the last touch - and the smell went after a while - hugs as well
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