Rules of Acquisition

My visa just came in. YAY! Meredith booked out flights the other day as well, so we are off on April 22nd. Now all I need to do is figure out what to do once we arrive in the UK. Apparently I need to get a national insurance number (or something like that) before I can get a job. So, I guess that'll be the first order of the day .

I had to laugh the other day. I was ripping CDs onto my computer and it occurred to me that we were going to be living near Birmingham. I had a mental image of our neighbourhood looking like the cover of Black Sabbath I...scary.

It'll be a little strange that a lot of our friends from Edmonton are living in and around the UK. I imagine it will be somewhat surreal to hang out with them like we have many times before, but on the other side of the world.

I had an experience at work yesterday that made me so happy to be travelling. A lady came into the library and said that God told her to contact the leaders of all the countries in the world. So, she wanted me to find the direct addresses for all of these leaders and write them down for her. As I calmly tried to explain that as there are 192 countries in the world (and my inside voice was repeating 'visa came through, visa came through'), I simply would not have time to find all of them, she responded by saying, "But it's really important. God wants me to do this. I need to pray for all of them." 45 minutes later, I escaped from her only having to look 2 up (Canada and the UK). I ordered a couple of books for her to find the rest, and as an added bonus she said she would pray for me.
The truly strange thing about this was that earlier in the day, my coworker was looking through donations, and found a Christian guide to life for kids which was the most brutal, fear-of-God, judgemental propaganda (sample lesson: "Remember children, adultery is a sin"...is this really necessary for 8 year olds to know? GAWD!!). Anyway, he was making jokes about it non-stop while I was quietly laughing along....So how is it that I get stuck 6 hours later with the crazy lady? I felt like a karmic human shield. Sigh. Maybe that lady should pray for me...