Still no visa. But at least my passport has been returned.
I am going to write a script for a B grade detective movie when this is all over.
Firstly, what really hurts is being betrayed by someone who you have known since she was a child. Maybe that whole family has gone crazy. Given that her father is hitting on my via telephone, I suppose anything is possible.
Everything would have been OK if she had only communicated. From the beginning, I gave her a choice. I asked her if she could handle the matter, because if she couldn't, I had the name of a lawyer who could do it. She said no problem. Now I realize that she had been lying from the beginning. I should have taken action when just at the time my visa expired, she buggered off out of the country and couldn't be reached. Only after desperate phone calls to her mother did she contact me. Then she told me that there was a grace period given after visas expire. That is BS, I am sure.
Then she said that the visa had been issued but she hadn't been able to pick up the passport as the wife of the officer who was handling it had died. I am sure that was more twaddle. What added to the problem was that she would never phone. When she did communicate it was either through e-mail or text. That should have made me suspicious as well.
Even after pleading that I was without a passport, a visa and eventually a bank account, she refused to phone me. She only called after I threatened to file a complaint with the police. During that phone conversation, she said that the problem lay with the one year visa; which had earlier stated had already been obtained. She said that it would have been no problem to get a 6 month visa. I told her to get the 6 month visa then but in any event to get the passport back. After having given her another week before I actually made the complaint with the police, there was still no news.
The experience with the police was good. This is the second time I have had to deal with the Kandy police station, and both have been good. They were very helpful and efficient. I dealt with two Chief Inspectors both of whom were extremely suspicious that the passport had been sold. They said that you can sell an EU passport through Jaffna for Rs. 1M or even 2M. The immediately recognized her name as Jaffna Tamil. That is a lot of money here. So, they are issuing a summons for her to appear in Kandy to respond to the complaint.
While all of this was going on, Yvonne had apparently gone to Galle to retrieve the passport. What it was doing in Galle, I have no idea. There is no immigration office there, so something fishy was afoot.
In the meantime, Jez found out about the problem through Amal. I had not told him, as he is so busy with his other work. He called saying what was going on and why had I not told him. After I filled him in, he took immediate action. He was in Colombo, so he got some unsavoury acquaintances to accompany him to Yvonne's place of business. He said she was very nervous, gulping all the time, but she did not have the passport and although he called from there and I demanded to talk to her, she would not get on the phone. She even sent me a text saying I was threatening her and she would take legal action. I have to give her credit for nerve, as she is going to be in a lot of glue over this.
Jez's hoodlum buddies confirmed what the police had said about sale of the passport, as they have done it themselves. Then she texted me saying she would hand over the passport the next day at Majestic City, which is a huge shopping and cinema complex. More cloak and dagger. She refused to hand over the passport to Jez.
The next day after another 4 texts, she finally handed over the passport to Jez's driver who took it to Jez's business manager in Borrella, a suburb of Colombo. She checked it over and reported that there was no visa extension in it.
The next step was to text Yvonne telling her to repay the Rs. 57,000. Her response to that was "I need a break". From what? I have given her until Friday to repay the Rs. 57,000. The CID officer has told me to amend the complaint to include the Rs. 57,000. Plus, I have not withdrawn the original complaint despite the fact that the passport has been returned, because I want them to investigate. I think she is up to more than the usual no good in league with some unusually shady immigration type.
Now, Sonali's beau, Mr. Tuna, has stepped in and is trying to get the visa. At least, he seems to be on the ball.
One of the many lessons that I have learned is who my friends really are. Sonali has been a huge help and so has Jez. The tea leaf reader at the Calico Cat in Nanaimo did say that I would have some visa problems, but that they would be sorted and that I would become good friends with the people who helped me. I guess that is coming true.
On the home front, packing continues unabated. The usual battle with cockroaches and such continues. Yesterday, we had a rat snake laying in wait from a small hole in the retaining wall. We could only see his head. I must say that without seeing the rest of his body, he was quite cute. However, I did not want to make acquaintance with the rest of him, so when he ducked down into the hole, I slammed a broom down over it to scare him off. We then put moth balls down the hole and filled it with pebbles. Hopefully, he has moved on. I have not seen him today.
I have a lovely family of small lizards living in my mailbox. They have laid their eggs. Hundreds of them. The eggs were attacked by an army of ants who were carting them off one at a time. I have no idea if any of them survived.
The mynas have had babies. Veenitha saw the parents taking papaya from our feeding plank being taken back to the nest and being regurgitated for the fledglings.
Will update of the visa saga as it unfolds.
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