I put the application in on 11th October and I'm still waiting!!!! To go to London at Xmas time I had to apply for, and got, permission to come back. Not long after I returned from London I got another letter from the government and it turned out that what had been going on was an investigation to decide whether or not to extend my NIE and they decided that they would. I had to then apply for my card to be issued. This I did and was told that it would take .... 40 freakin days!!!! There was a chance that it could be quicker so at the end of last week a teacher at school phoned the police and was told "yes, it's there waiting to be picked up" Woo hooo - into San Sebastian I went, once again. BUT NO - they'd made a mistake.
Back to Azpeitia I came and the next day the teacher phoned to see what's going on to be told that the person on the phone the day before had indeed made a mistake and that it wasn't ready.
The thing is that I have a ticket to go to London on 27th Feb for 5 days, it's a carnival holiday here, and the 40 days is up on the 5th March and no guarantee that it will be done before then. So, today I went back into San Sebastian to again apply for permission to come back. Each time I have to pay, not a lot so no biggy really but the thing is that it can't be paid there, I have to go to a bank, pay the money, they stamp the triplicate copies of the document, I return to the police department and give them the appropriate copy. No problem .... except for one little detail .... THE BANKS CLOSE - at 2.30pm FOR THE DAY - it was 2.35pm. For f***s sake, I've adjusted to everything else here but I'll never get used to the place closing down for the afternoon and places like banks not opening again until the next day.
But - there was a glimmer of hope - we (Miren came with me) found one that would open again at 4.15pm so I hung about, Miren went back to Azpeitia, until it opened and I could get the money payed, get the document back to the police and then be done with it - BUT NO SUCH LUCK - turned out that that particular bank, not the branch but the bank, only did such things for people who have a bank account with them.
AND SO IT GOES ON!!!!
Back to Azpeitia I came and will go back to San Sebastian tomorrow morning.
All going well, I shall pay the money, deliver the stamped document to the police, come back here and on Monday go back to San Sebastian to the police station and get the permission document. When I come back from London I should then get my renewed NIE, THE NEXT DAY - POSSIBLY!
Emma's comment, when she first heard about the '40 days', " they'll be posting it to NZ at this rate". I'm beginning to think that this is indeed what'll happen.
One bright spot in all the trailing back and forth is that there is a good bus service between Azpeitia and San Sebastian and it is a short walk from the bus station to the police station.
Tomorrow is another day!
On the other hand, I've had a very good February so far - last weekend my niece, Alysha, came for a weekend visit all the way from Leeds, UK.; last Friday I visited a salt mine and tiki toured around the countryside for a few hours, thanks to Miren and Nerea; on Saturday I had a lot of fun in a cider house with some really nice people, one is a teacher at school; and on Sunday I went on another tiki tour to the coast and then back here to the home of the owners of my apartment for lunch.
I'll tell you all about these happenings next time. It's time to cook my dinner.
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