mad rabbits

Have you ever had a song go feral in your mind, and get stuck there? I've had an old Gordon Lightfoot track turn itself into something that keeps repeating like over-greasy chili sauce. So I thought I'd inflict it on you. "Look here child, your father's pride was his means to provide everybody around with mad rabbits."

Yes it's been rainy and miserable. I spent 2 hours on the 'phone to Immigration about James's Fiance and am no wiser. After my experiences with New Zealand's Emigration (we wanted Flinders, but we were not sure we'd get into Australia, but if we got NZ permanent residence we could also come to Australia after 4 years - the process of applying and acceptance took nearly 3 so, same ball park.) dept. I concluded there was a certain level of pure beurocratic inertia that mere logic doesn't penetrate (NZ - Yes, you have the points to come here as a migrant and bring your wife, if you work in your field. Yes, your wife has the points to come here and bring you, if she works in her field (and there is a large demand). Yes you could come here and write, but only if you are published by a NZ publisher - which would not pay you enough to live on. You could come and be sponsored by a peer organization of sf/fantasy writers, but we don't have one. They would have to put a smallish amount of money to guarantee you would not be a drain on the state. No you can't put it up and in trust so you can't spend it. Gah. Basically, we could have got on an 'plane - as friends of ours did, and -as they had the points, applied from inside the country, and got temporary status fast, and to permanent residence in 2 years. But despite the fact that their own rules said we'd be very desirable citizens, they tossed us about from pillar to post, and the Australian visa came through. And in fact if it hadn't we'd have taken 2 years of Barbs working at radiography job, and got permanent residence, and all they would have gained would be 2 years they'd quite possibly have got anyway. This is much the same, the girl has the points to get a visa - she's a very desirable graduate, in a field which Australia doesn't have enough of, her husband to be is a permanent resident, she's over 21, short of some major impediment (like another husband or criminal record - which she doesn't have) she has two ways into the country. Why then make it complex? Why make her spend 7-12 months of uncertainty -- apart from her partner, thereby making it more likely they'll go there instead of coming here? Yes, I could see the sense, perhaps, if she was 17 year old illiterate coming for an arranged marriage, of trying to slow it down. It's futile anyway, because the people who might take it as an impediment, you want. But seriously, if you're eligible for a working visa, have desirable skills, have a permanent resident partner with desirable skills and a job... why does it need a year? There are no time advantages to doing it right, to doing it from outside the country.

Sigh. Mad rabbits.

I think the wallaby are close enough for me to supply everybody around with.