This will help you get through..... Today...... Tomorrow............... Sun.................. Mon.....................Tue..... Sunny ....Mostly Cloudy..... Mostly Cloudy.... Mostly Cloudy..... AM Clouds PM Sun High: 6°....High: 10°............High: 8°..............High: 9°...............High: 9° Low: 3°......Low: 4°..............Low: 4°..............Low: 6°.................Low: 5° London's weather forecast. Jamie
It drives me crazy how the rules here change without warning. What a floaty, mushy, hard to pin down bunch of neurotic uptight bureaucrats this country has. Steve, I have no idea about what you need to do to retake the test. I would imagine, if this were a reasonable country with reasonable laws that it would not be a big deal to retake it. But that was a lot of IFS.
LOL, if it were a reasonable process ( I wont say country ) then you would: Go to the Post Office, pick up some forms and fill them in at your leisure (calling the free 24 hr helpline if you had any problems), you'd write a cheque and enclose your original documents, then pop them in the post box and wait. A week or two later you'd get a reply with either the document you wanted enclosed with all your originals returned or a detailed reply of why it hadn't been granted with a number to call for further advice. Of course you'd have been tracking it all on the internet too, so would know exactly where you stood before you received the official notification. In my UK job I worked for a Govt Agency and was responsible for implementing new policy and legislation. The very first thing we ever did when even thnking about changes was to engage and meet with "stakeholders" i.e if we do this how does it affect a n other Govt Dept, how can we publicise the changes to those affected, what can we do to minimise the disruption, how can we streamline the changeover. I mean, it's not rocket science is it? It's a different world! Have you heard about the smoking ban in bars that is due to come in in 2008, which follows much of the US and the UK? Yeah some will say great Health and Safety is a big issue, and it's good that Mexico is following. Then you see 90% of Mexican construction workers climbing scaffold in flip flops!
Hmm, not sure it gets me through - sounds like proper Christmas weather to me! PS you were right about the smoking ban coming in.
smoking ban in Cancun bars?? Really? Re the test you're all talking about - do you mean a Spanish test or a knowledge of Mexico test? Do you know if this is for new applicants or existing applicants. I gave mine in at the end of june and am still waiting an answer. I can track the process on the webpage but for the last couple of months or so it just says 'awaiting opinion of immigration' - well that will probably take another year!
I think the test is Mexican history, but I don't really know much. I'm just hearing rumors. They passed a smoking ban in the bars where I lived in the US. As far as I know it helped business because all the people who couldn't stand to go be in smoky places started going out drinking. And the smokers still came they just had to step outside to smoke.
I've also heard about the smoking ban. Even though I'm a smoker, I don't mind the idea at all. I've gotten used to it in the States, and in fact prefer it. One smokes less and doesn't stink (quite as bad) at the end of the night. It's good to know that you can check the status online...although doing the same for hubby in the US drove me insane, because I'd always check. Months and months of "pending" status!
From what I've heard the smoking ban will still permit smoking in bars but the smoking areas will have to be physically separate from non smoking areas and comprise of no more than a certain percentage of the bars area. I know Doug at La Taberna is thinking about how he is to redesign his bar. Personally I dont see it as a problem, I smoke but I always pop outside anyway if at a restaurant and only smoke in bars if there are other smokers around me. Just seems crazy to me that this is even being thought of as a priority, when there are far more serious safety problems. You can ride 4 to a moped, have to negotiate unmarked 4 foot deep holes in the sidewalk, have little if any standards for the roadworthiness of vehicles and climb scaffold in flip flops but woe betide you if you have a smoke in a bar.
In the U.K they just passed a law that you can face up to 2 years in prison for talking on a mobile phone while driving.....yet you are allowed to smoke and drive......wait, so it alright to drive with something on fire in your hand, but talk on a phone and they can lock you up for 2 years...seems pretty stupid as well???
Finally, Matkirk, a bit of the "other side." Climate differences aside........ Every country, State, city, church, family, marriage, friendship or other human relationship has things about it that we like and things that we don't like and we remain in one or not not BECAUSE of those things but because of our own individual decision to either accept them or not accept them. We all moved here for our own varying reasons and we stay or leave because of our own varying reasons but when we get into a "why don't they....." mind set then we begin to lose perspective that all human relationships are basically just that--human--and therefore not "perfect"--whatever that is. We stay or go, whichever seems best to us but we should do it knowing that there is no geographical cure for the problem. Wherever we go, there we are. So that is my rant of the day I guess. Have a good Sunday and a Merry Christmas all--wherever it is that you are!!
