... an appropriate opening for the first post of my 7th "millenia". Myrna and I travelled down to the UKBA's only Scottish PEO in my native city of Glasgow, today ... to present her application for ILR in person. Her appointment wasn't actually till 2 o'clock in the afternoon ... but we arrived just after midday ... and the staff were ever so helpful (well that's Glaswegians for you!) - from the security officials manning the gate, right through to the lady who affixed the precious RESIDENCE PERMIT to her passport.

Because we'd arrived ahead of time, all was "done & dusted" - even before the scheduled time of our appointment - and we emerged from the modern buildings with documents returned intact in less than an hour ... oblivious to the damp, drizzly weather conditions.

One scary moment did arise though. And that was at the beginning of the interview ... when the guy we saw first asked if we'd brought the Title Deeds of the house that I've lived in for nearly 43 years, ! I hadn't, of course - despite Myrna advising me to include them last night! But luckily, his senior officer - who'd been hovering around at the time - overheard the question and verified that the Council Tax Bills we had provided amounted to proof enough that I was able to accommodate my wife without the need to resort to claiming public funds.

So - apart from momentary panic [on MY part] - all went smoothly ... thanks to valuable support from Aileen (Acs) who received her ILR by post two days ago and Joe Bloggs' ever-helpful guidance on when to apply.