Catch 22

After all of the delays, postponements and cancellations last year it is still a bit hard to believe but, if all goes well, by this time next week I will be in Russia. If all goes well, I will at last be walking the streets of Moscow. If all goes well...

"Why so gloomy", you ask? That would be because so far nothing about this has been straightforward. Of course there was all of last year's trouble. Then this year things again got pushed back from April to May to June. However, in the last couple of weeks the project finally picked up some momentum. Dates were fixed for the second week of June. Enthusiastically I set about getting everything sorted and armed with my paperwork I showed up at the Russian embassy. Unfortunately I wasn't the only one with that idea. The queue covered a good 25 metres of the pavement and at 12:00 the iron gates shut mercilessly. Luckily the university recruits an agency that, for a fee, takes over this tedious process sparing me second trip.

This morning I came into the office fully expecting to be all sorted by the end of the day. I ordered my tickets and a courier to get my documents to the visa handling agency. So far, so good. And then the call from Russia comes... apparently my trip would have coincided with a public holiday shutting down office life for a week. Oops. The big shock, however, was that instead of pushing the dates back, this time they were pushed forward! A quick call learned that the flights had not yet been confirmed so we could still move those. Of course the visa application form had to be revised though. An hour later we were back on track. And then the call from the agency comes... one of my forms is not correct and they need an official letter from the Ministry confirming my invitation. The problem there is, the letter does not exist. The confirmation was given over the phone and there is nothing in writing. The agency is certain the Russians will not approve my application without it, my host organisation is equally certain there will be no problem. I will find out who is right tomorrow.

So by this time next week I should be in Russia. If all goes well...