Freaky weather

Yesterday's storm lasted from around 3.30 p.m. till about 10 p.m. Epic lightning-cum-thunder, torrential rain. The damage it did must be considerable; the roads were partly so flooded that the cars were in the water up to mid-tyre.
I was truly lucky: the taxi I called (very early) for going to tennis arrived within a minute, and after tennis I actually got another one, for which I only had to wait five minutes.
So at least I got to play yesterday, and it was a good lesson. My serves have vastly improved -- Elena is very happy with me, as is Valentina, although to be honest the improved serves are mostly due to Elena. Never mind, what counts is that they're better now. It's interesting, though, to see how mind and body work together -- even if the mind knows exactly what the body is supposed to do, it takes some time for the body to understand and actually do it. More so when one is older and tends to overthink.
In true PMS spirit, I ate way too much last night. I mean, I ate chocolate! I never, ever eat chocolate, but Janine hadn't finished all the chocolate I'd bought for her one month ago. Anyway it made me feel good, especially in combination with a glass of whisky and the first eight episodes of How I Met Your Mother, season 5. And ze boyz sleeping on my legs, ears twitching occasionally at a particularly loud rumble of thunder.
In spite of the storm, it's still warm for November, and this weekend the weather should again be fine. Not holding my breath here, but I'd certainly be very happy if the forecast was correct.

Semi-cheery wave to the f-list.

The incredibly stressful day

Back story, in bullet points:
1) Family from Kosovo goes to Austria (some years ago) and dmeands asylum.
2) First, second and third instance decide against (no individual politcal persecution), family has to leave the country (~2006 or 7). Huge uproar against inhumane authorities
3) Family re-enters Austria illegally, same story starts again.
4) In July 2010, they leave the country voluntarily, because the authorities tell them that this is the only possibility for them ever to obtain legal residence, i.e. by leaving and then going through the appropriate procedures.
5) In October the mother applies for a visa as a seasonal worker, the children for student residence permits. Here in Skopje of course.
6) Authorities yield to pressure, visa for mother is granted, and a few days later the children's applications are approved.

Now comes the technical part: once a residence permit is approved, the person who made the decision orders the residence permit card. This order triggers a data transmission which, via a few servers and databases, finally generates the authorization for the embassy to issue a national visa, so the applicant can travel to Austria and retrieve the card.
The data transmission takes a few days.
BUT: as soon as the guy in Austria has pressed the button, he shouts "Hosiannah, we're the good guys and did our job!" to the media, the applicants' lawyer, and generally to everybody and their dog.
What happens? Nobody knows/cares to understand that we can't issue the visa before we get the electronic authorization, which takes, as we said, a few days.

So what happens?
Everybody looks at us, the bad guys who refuse to issue the visas.
An Austrian journalist (he writes for "Österreich" which says it all) came to Skopje specially, in the hopes that he might encounter the family here and interview them. I had to spend more than an hour today with him, not answering his questions. My ministry plays dead, the Ministry of Interior -- who could authorize us to issue the visas right away -- plays dead, lawyers, journalists and assorted do-gooders are calling...  And I keep explaining the same thing again and again, hoping against all common sense that they'll manage to wrap their pea-sized brains around the concept of data transfer not being the same as an email.

I really need the gym today. Otherwise there'll be bloody murder.