Holiday time...
Well, we're off to Scotland tomorrow. Or as it's past midnight, today. Parents, grandparents, brother and me. Aunty didn't want to come because she wants to stay at home and rest.
We SHOULD have been going for a week. But it had to be reduced because my grandma doesn't eat ANYTHING not made at home, and the most you can really take along food for is 1-2 days. We also have biscuits and things, which she doesn't mind, oddly enough. SO. We're only going for THREE DAYS. TWO nights, THREE days. That's it. Ah well. At least it's something. Dad has, to make it up to me, promised to take us all on day trips to Durham (to see the city - I want to apply to uni there!), and Warwick Castle (also taking a detour through the city - I want to apply there, too). And I think mum's taking us shopping to Manchester this Sunday, so it's not THAT bad.
As for the Europe thing. Well. Originally, we were going for ten days. BUT. Dad has a big interview thing around that week which he cannot miss. It is in his current hospital, nowhere else, but it will make him one step away from consultant, which is the top post. He has more than enough experience to be consultant, but trouble is that you can only have a fixed number of consultants at any one time, and the current ones won't be retiring for a few years. And the hospital knows that if they can't promote dad, he will happily leave to somewhere else, even if it is further away. So, rumour has it that this 'opening' that they are interviewing for was created especially for him. But rules say that they have to advertise just like they would for all the other posts, so they have done so, but he is supposed to be a 'dead cert' for the job. I know it's hardly fair on all the other poor souls who will turn up for the interview, but I also know that hospitals do this all the time, and dad has been on the other end of this many times, so I'm not complaining. It's time dad got the recognition he deserves. He's one of the best surgeons they have, and if they have to create a special post for him, then it's only right. Let's hope this rumour is actual fact. Even though that is what everyone is saying, I won't celebrate until he actually tells us that he got the post.
BUT. Downside of this is that he has to go for the interview, and he won't be given a fixed day until about a week before. So he said that can we possibly cut the trip short to 5 days? That way he could be back by Thursday, which, along with Friday, is USUALLY the day on which the hospital interviews. I reluctantly agreed, even though it meant only spending time in Paris, nowhere else.
Now, three weeks from departure, we have come up against another snag. I had drawn up a detailed plan more than two weeks ago and given it to him. He looked at it, liked it, but as he was on nights and then sorting out the Scotland trip stuff, he only started looking at Paris hotel bookings and paperwork in the past couple of days. And realised that a Schengen visa, which we will need to go to France, needs at least two weeks to get processed, and it would take him at least 4-5 days to get together all the paperwork that he needs to send off with the visa application. Put it all together, and you will realise that there is know way we could get the visas sorted out by the 20th of August. *sigh* He apologised profusely for not looking up visa stuff earlier. I can't really blame him, because I know he's been on nights, so it's hardly his fault that he didn't have time.
But basically, at the end of the day, we can't go to France at this short notice. Or Germany, or Belgium, or Italy, or Greece, or Spain. We can't go to any of the Schengen countries, because of the visa stuff. The only place we CAN go, is Switzerland, because the visa that allows us to stay in Britain also exempts us, miraculously, from applying for a visa for Switzerland (it isn't a Schengen country). Actually, parents quite like that thought, because that was where they originally wanted to go this summer. I don't mind, because it is very pretty, and there is stuff to do in Geneva and Zurich, and you can get around everywhere by train so dad won't have to drive. Brother is sulky because he wanted desperately to go to Disneyland, but dad has very solemnly promised to take us to Paris and/or Germany this half term (October third week), so that placated him.
I am disappointed, yes, but going to Switzerland is better than just sitting at home. And paperwork can't be helped...
We'll think more about that later. For now, we're off to Scotland in the morning! Dad has hired a 7-seater car, since both parents' cars are normal-sized, and there are six of us, and mum refuses to drive all the way up to Edinburgh, so we couldn't all fit in one of their cars. Therefore, dad is picking up a Vauxhall Zafira from the rental place just before nine tomorrow, and then we're off!
I hope we have lots of fun.
Now it is past one in the morning, and I need to get to sleep. I will report back on Saturday. Bye!
We SHOULD have been going for a week. But it had to be reduced because my grandma doesn't eat ANYTHING not made at home, and the most you can really take along food for is 1-2 days. We also have biscuits and things, which she doesn't mind, oddly enough. SO. We're only going for THREE DAYS. TWO nights, THREE days. That's it. Ah well. At least it's something. Dad has, to make it up to me, promised to take us all on day trips to Durham (to see the city - I want to apply to uni there!), and Warwick Castle (also taking a detour through the city - I want to apply there, too). And I think mum's taking us shopping to Manchester this Sunday, so it's not THAT bad.
As for the Europe thing. Well. Originally, we were going for ten days. BUT. Dad has a big interview thing around that week which he cannot miss. It is in his current hospital, nowhere else, but it will make him one step away from consultant, which is the top post. He has more than enough experience to be consultant, but trouble is that you can only have a fixed number of consultants at any one time, and the current ones won't be retiring for a few years. And the hospital knows that if they can't promote dad, he will happily leave to somewhere else, even if it is further away. So, rumour has it that this 'opening' that they are interviewing for was created especially for him. But rules say that they have to advertise just like they would for all the other posts, so they have done so, but he is supposed to be a 'dead cert' for the job. I know it's hardly fair on all the other poor souls who will turn up for the interview, but I also know that hospitals do this all the time, and dad has been on the other end of this many times, so I'm not complaining. It's time dad got the recognition he deserves. He's one of the best surgeons they have, and if they have to create a special post for him, then it's only right. Let's hope this rumour is actual fact. Even though that is what everyone is saying, I won't celebrate until he actually tells us that he got the post.
BUT. Downside of this is that he has to go for the interview, and he won't be given a fixed day until about a week before. So he said that can we possibly cut the trip short to 5 days? That way he could be back by Thursday, which, along with Friday, is USUALLY the day on which the hospital interviews. I reluctantly agreed, even though it meant only spending time in Paris, nowhere else.
Now, three weeks from departure, we have come up against another snag. I had drawn up a detailed plan more than two weeks ago and given it to him. He looked at it, liked it, but as he was on nights and then sorting out the Scotland trip stuff, he only started looking at Paris hotel bookings and paperwork in the past couple of days. And realised that a Schengen visa, which we will need to go to France, needs at least two weeks to get processed, and it would take him at least 4-5 days to get together all the paperwork that he needs to send off with the visa application. Put it all together, and you will realise that there is know way we could get the visas sorted out by the 20th of August. *sigh* He apologised profusely for not looking up visa stuff earlier. I can't really blame him, because I know he's been on nights, so it's hardly his fault that he didn't have time.
But basically, at the end of the day, we can't go to France at this short notice. Or Germany, or Belgium, or Italy, or Greece, or Spain. We can't go to any of the Schengen countries, because of the visa stuff. The only place we CAN go, is Switzerland, because the visa that allows us to stay in Britain also exempts us, miraculously, from applying for a visa for Switzerland (it isn't a Schengen country). Actually, parents quite like that thought, because that was where they originally wanted to go this summer. I don't mind, because it is very pretty, and there is stuff to do in Geneva and Zurich, and you can get around everywhere by train so dad won't have to drive. Brother is sulky because he wanted desperately to go to Disneyland, but dad has very solemnly promised to take us to Paris and/or Germany this half term (October third week), so that placated him.
I am disappointed, yes, but going to Switzerland is better than just sitting at home. And paperwork can't be helped...
We'll think more about that later. For now, we're off to Scotland in the morning! Dad has hired a 7-seater car, since both parents' cars are normal-sized, and there are six of us, and mum refuses to drive all the way up to Edinburgh, so we couldn't all fit in one of their cars. Therefore, dad is picking up a Vauxhall Zafira from the rental place just before nine tomorrow, and then we're off!
I hope we have lots of fun.
Now it is past one in the morning, and I need to get to sleep. I will report back on Saturday. Bye!