Sometimes it's better to light a flamethrower than curse the darkness

Thanks so much to everyone for their kind words on my immigration/mental health article. I woke up this morning to a text from a friend who said I'd made him cry over his shredded wheat reading it this morning. Even people I consider close friends have said they didn't realize it was this bad for me.

I don't blame them; with nothing but FUD from the media and politicians, there's no way to know much about immigration unless you know someone who's been through it. And even then, it's not always easy for us to talk about: even if we can find the words (which is a pretty big if!), it's hard to be confident that your audience is okay with what a downer you are about to be.

Relatedly, I saw po8crg tonight, and he told me that he really wanted to do a crowdfunding campaign to pay for my citizenship fees. He's already checked the cost (nine hundred and six pounds! though there are various incidental fees so he says he'll set the target at £1000). He even made sure that there are no other Commonwealth countries I could get citizenship in more cheaply or easily, bless him. (Turns out no, not without living in them for five years or something. And while five years on some little tropical island sounds okay to me, I am sure Andrew would complain...)

He said he also checked and I do unfortunately still have to swear an oath to the Queen! For fuck's sake.

Talking with him about details like this was a little bit overwhelming, though. The idea that such a thing might actually happen, that I'd have to worry about filling out forms and sending off my passport and swearing an oath with a straight face...it made me realize that I've, deep down, never believed this could really happen to me, and I think it'll be quicker to raise the money for it than for me to get used to the idea that I might actually one day have a British passport and get to vote in the country where I live and everything.