We Americans think that the DMV is an awful thing of bureaucracy… We complain about it and it’s the butt of many jokes in the US. The DVLA is a nightmare! Americans are allowed to drive on their licenses for up to one year. At which point, we have to have a UK driver’s license. So, Ray and I are going to get our licenses, which is a fairly, long, involved and complex process. First you must apply for your Provisional License. This seems pretty straightforward, except that we have to prove who we are – so we’ve had to send off our Passports to the DVLA in Swansea for UP TO 4 WEEKS!!! We misunderstood the information out there and thought that if we went to the DVLA office in Wimbledon, we wouldn’t have to actually send them passports in. So, with me still sick, we waiting around there for better than an hour waiting for the two minutes it required for someone to stamp our photos (you have to provide your own), stamp our applications, take the passports, take £90 for the two of us and send the whole pile to Swansea. Then, they will mail the Provisional license back to us with our passports IN 4 WEEKS!!! Then, we have to jump through a dozen other hoops to get our real licenses, including taking a class before you can take the tests to get the motorcycle endorsement.

So, poor Emma has hurt herself, somehow. We were sitting upstairs, working, when we heard her yelp. I went downstairs to find her bleeding all over the floor, where her claw got ripped out somehow. We took her into the vet, where they sedated her and removed the claw completely. She just has no luck. And since she’s decided to try to chew the bandages off, we’ve had to put an e-collar on her. Even Dingo was really upset that Emma was hurt. She was shaking and whining and just really upset. Ray thought I yelled at her or something, but I didn’t even notice her at first.

Other stuff… We had a Tube strike earlier in the week. I really think that there are times when striking might be justified, but this was nothing but laziness and stupidity. If your company goes belly up, why should you expect to still get your pensions or not lose your job or anything else? If there is no money to keep the company running, where do you think they can get the money to pay your ass? Despite my viewpoint, the Mayor of London promised that there wouldn’t be any jobs cut, or any pensions gone or even any forced transfers. They were promised this, even though Metronet is bankrupt. And then the assholes decided to strike anyway. They called it off halfway through, but it took another day to get everyone back in place and get things running again. It was absolutely a mess and completely not justified in any way.