Citizen of the Dunny

Today I officially became a British citizen! I attended a ceremony at Dunfermline City Chambers, mouthing the words to God Save The Queen while seagulls squabbled outside.

The Provost told us new inductees that we should be "proud of our achievement". But obtaining citizenship is not so much an achievement as a display of endurance and financial commitment. It's been 6.5 years and about £2,500 in Home Office fees. Now that I'm on the other side I can freely bitch about those stinking Home Office fees.

Cynicism aside, I loved the minor pomp of the ceremony and it's great to be an official Fifer. Eh! KEN!

I reluctantly moved across the water to Dunfermline in 2005, just before I married Doctor G. I thought it was a grotty hellhole - incomprehensible accents, crappy shops and pavements strewn with exploded kebabs. But now The Dunny feels like home. Even if we could afford to move back to Edinburgh I think I'd stay here. As much as I miss Edinburgh's cafes and concerts, I like my tiny commute, my kickboxing club, the countryside access and laughing at the stupid peacocks strutting down the high street.

How could you not love a town that gives you a commemorative mug for becoming a citizen?

It features stunning Fife attractions like historic Culross, St Andrews cathedral, the Rosyth Dockyard and the Forth Rail Bridge (The Greatest Feat of Victorian Engineering™).

And a puffin.

And for some unknown reason, a Chinese dragon thingy.

Catchy slogan, eh?

So with dual UK/Oz citizenship I have permanent access to two lovely nations and my wrestles with bureaucracy are finally OVER! Unless of course we move back to Australia and Gareth can experience the joys of the Department of Immigration :)

Comments

[1 · Posted by fifi · September 30, 2009 at 10:27 PM]

Shauna, this makes me feel strangely emotional.

(Perhaps I ought make myself another coffee?)

Congratulations, my dear. Hope you sing God Save The Queen very loudly and as out of tune as you can....

and should you EVER come back here I promise NOT to take you anywhere near anything Home and Away related.

XXX

[2 · Posted by Shauna · September 30, 2009 at 10:32 PM]

Fifi, I feel strangely emotional too! I dunno if that's stupid because all I did was fill out stupid forms and take a stupid test and give them a shitload of money.

It also makes me miss Oz like mad. Like I am cheating on Oz or something. VEIRD!

[3 · Posted by Alison · September 30, 2009 at 10:41 PM]

Congratulations ! I am absolutely killing myself laughing that Fife give you a mug and have no idea what the Chinese dragon is about !? Alison

[4 · Posted by Christine · September 30, 2009 at 10:41 PM]

Sweet. Congratulations Shauna! I am very happy for you. Please send other eligible Scots my way ;)

[5 · Posted by Amy · September 30, 2009 at 10:42 PM]

I read your tweet as "Hurrah! BeCOME a British citizen today" and got super excited, because I momentarily thought that the country (empire?) was having an open enrollment day or something.

:)

Congratulations! I know it's been a loooooong time coming.

[6 · Posted by KeithW · September 30, 2009 at 11:06 PM]

I think it's a hay baling machine, although that guess is purely because it's red and standing next to some hay bales.

[7 · Posted by Shauna · September 30, 2009 at 11:09 PM]

Ooh you could be right Keith. Although it appears to have teeth!

[8 · Posted by Shauna · September 30, 2009 at 11:10 PM]

Dear Fife Council,
WTF is that red thing on your mug?
Sincerely,
Concerned Council Tax Payer

[9 · Posted by PastaQueen · September 30, 2009 at 11:14 PM]

Congrats! I bet that's the most expensive mug you'll ever own. Don't break it!

[10 · Posted by Sarah C. · October 01, 2009 at 12:58 AM]

Congratulations! Re: the chinese dragon, I thought it was a smiling barn. It reminds me a bit of the Luna Park entrance.

[11 · Posted by Scott F · October 01, 2009 at 01:28 AM]

Congratulations! I had it rather easier (as I have English parents) but it's awfully handy having both passports - even travelling in Europe.
I took my NZ one into Turkey (no visa required - you do with a British one) just for convenience and to Oz too.
You'll always be Aussie though (as I am a Kiwi) even though you'll go more and more native here. Proud of both your homes!
It's amazing what makes you homesick though - mostly the food :)
I'm glad you're safely a citizen - now I have to try and think about the reverse for my Polish wife!

[12 · Posted by Tamakikat · October 01, 2009 at 01:35 AM]

Congratulations! Now you can stay in the Dunny for as long as you like.

TK

[13 · Posted by Tamakikat · October 01, 2009 at 01:37 AM]

T-shirt caption idea. 'I'm a resident of the Dunny and I have the mug to prove it!'

[14 · Posted by Kada · October 01, 2009 at 02:40 AM]

Congrats, Chickybabe!

I'm not looking forward to becoming a US Citizen, costs a bazillion bucks too. And tests. I hate studying for tests.

First up though is getting Kiddlywink her Aussie citizenship. But we're still waiting for her birth certificate to arrive. Bloody bureaucracy, takes forever. (I find it amazing we have to send them original documents through the mail, and hope they send 'em back intact. This IS the 21st century, right?)

Congrats, again. Will have to make some crumpets for breakfast, in yer honour! ;)

[15 · Posted by Dr Alice · October 01, 2009 at 03:04 AM]

Congratulations! I'm glad the bureaucratic nightmare is over. I hope this doesn't mean you have to pay income tax in both countries. :-P

[16 · Posted by ladyloo · October 01, 2009 at 03:26 AM]

Congratulations, Shauna!! I'm just about to hand in my application for naturalization myself. And girl, the griping I could do about the offices over here...

[17 · Posted by maz · October 01, 2009 at 04:07 AM]

Nice work hen.
You're in good company in Dunny/Fife with Ian Rankin & Iain Banks being locals.

[18 · Posted by Vicky · October 01, 2009 at 07:21 AM]

Congratulations!

[19 · Posted by kek · October 01, 2009 at 09:02 AM]

Huh. I know I posted a comment this morning. Where did it gooooooooo??

Anyways, congratulations. You have proven your tenacity, determination and downright refusal to be beaten by bureaucracy. I suspect that was the point of the whole frustrating exercise. Only the seriously stubborn need apply....

[20 · Posted by bushra · October 01, 2009 at 10:25 AM]

hurrah! congratulations, lady!

[21 · Posted by M.R. · October 01, 2009 at 12:44 PM]

Congratulations! That is great that you get to keep Australian citizenship too. Otherwise, it would be a sad occasion. Good to know that they can't wrest you from the arms of the good Dr. and send you home!

[22 · Posted by Loth · October 01, 2009 at 10:11 PM]

Congratulations, fellow Scot! (As a bona fide resident of Dunfermline, do you get issued with a neck brace and some crutches? Every time I visited my old head office in Dunfermline, I was astonished by the number of people on the streets sporting those items - like a sort of watered down Dawn of the Dead sort of thing!)

Also, my Dad used to take us to Pittencrieff Park when we were kids and we considered that a major jaunt (over the water!) and a huge treat. Still do, actually.

[23 · Posted by Marc from Italy · October 02, 2009 at 11:06 AM]

A long-time lurker, it's high time I came out of the woodwork to holler "Congratulations!". You're such a treasure Shauna, that they have paid you two-and-half grand for the honour of having you as a citizen.

[24 · Posted by green ink · October 02, 2009 at 02:24 PM]

Congrats darl! I hope you won't mind if I come and ask you for advice in about a year and a half.... :) ha ha. Yay for beating bureaucracy xx

[25 · Posted by CalistroWriter · October 02, 2009 at 05:03 PM]

Congratulations on becoming a (not-in-the-slightest-bit-whinging) Pom! :)

[26 · Posted by K · October 02, 2009 at 06:28 PM]

Congratulations! Lang may yer lum reek! And other hortatory phrases.

Lovely to see you yesterday :)

[27 · Posted by Dani · October 03, 2009 at 01:46 PM]

Well done to you. Nice to have the option of both countries. I left with one year to go for my UK one and regret it. From the European persepective of course, I had dreams of retiring to Paris and being a cranky eccentric cow with lots of cats and smoke blue smoke surrounding me like a halo. Now I am an old mum - I will be a cranky cow in Sydney with an emo son (just my luck) at retirement age.

From our experience and other's I have spoken to - Aussie citezenship is not so taxing.
Dani

[28 · Posted by Isabelle · October 03, 2009 at 04:07 PM]

Welcome to the land of autumn gales and washing up bowls. We're honoured to have you. I feel our little Scottish-Australian-meets-Australian-Scot-in-a-Scottish-Scot's-house tea party was a nice wee celebration of this momentous event.

[29 · Posted by vaguelyspecific · October 04, 2009 at 07:19 AM]

Congratulations and well done in surviving the marathon of bureaucracy. As someone whose done it both ways, (Dutch citizenship for me and Aussie visa for the Dutchman) I can assure you the Aussie version is still a darn sight cheaper and quicker than the Ducth one, and from the sounds of it, the english one. The worst is over! ;-)

[30 · Posted by Sher · October 04, 2009 at 09:38 PM]

Congratulations, you're a regular clanswoman now.

[31 · Posted by Croila · October 05, 2009 at 02:14 PM]

Didn't know which to p myself laughing at more: the fact you get a mug to commemorative your new citizenship, or the slogan inside it! I married a Fifer, but I remain unconvinced about ever living there, I must say. Think I'll stick with Embra for now! ;-) But! Congrats on being ... No, I can't say a British Citizen, I'm a Scottish nationalist for heavens sake ... Congrats on being ... y'know! :-D

[32 · Posted by Philippa · October 07, 2009 at 01:31 AM]

Congratulations Shauna! It's been a long time coming. As someone raised in Fife who was quite relieved to escape, I guess it all depends who your perspective and circumstances... and now I'm about to book the test for my Australian citizenship. Wonder if I'll get a mug?
Philippa

[33 · Posted by Rosemary Riveter · October 07, 2009 at 01:49 AM]

Hooray! Congratulations & welcome to the citizenship-whore club from another dual passport holder.

I was going to say it's the most expensive mug you'll ever own, bu someone beat me to it.

[34 · Posted by Patricia · October 07, 2009 at 08:59 PM]

Congratulations on becoming a British citizen! I hope to one day become one of those myself. In the meantime, my British husband has his US naturalization interview tomorrow so he'll be joining the ranks of all you dual citizens out there. I doubt the USCIS will give him anything as great as a mug though! :)

[35 · Posted by momo · October 08, 2009 at 06:20 AM]

Ohhhhh! So lovely. Dig the mug. I feel emotional reading this, Shauny, I really do. The other day I clicked on one of your other blogs of 2004 (Crossroads or something it was titled) when you were trying to figure out how to stay in the Yooo Kay and there was no conceivable way, and it was tearful and dreadful, BUT LOOK AT YOU NOW!!!

Dual citizenship, well, I don't know what you'll do if we ever go to some sort of War of Independence (doubtful. Had written an inflammatory remark about laziness of fellow Australians but thought the better of it and deleted).

CONGRATS, sweets! Also, if Gareth ever decided to defect, I think they give you a gum tree at Australian naturalization ceremonies. BYO kookaburra.

[36 · Posted by Sue McCallister · October 09, 2009 at 04:00 AM]

At my Nigerian son-in-law's citizenship ceremony in Phoenix, AZ they actually had all the new citizens stand up waving little flags and sing along with the video "I'm Proud to Be an American" by Lee frickin Greenwood...no diginified America the Beautiful or even the more modern God Bless America by Irving Berlin. Surely the Brits are not quite so hyper boosterish.

[37 · Posted by Erin · October 12, 2009 at 06:07 PM]

Huzzah! Congrats!

[38 · Posted by Beckstein · October 14, 2009 at 02:56 PM]

Guess I'm 2 weeks behind, but CONGRATS...way to go with your citizenship! Are you dual citizen now with Austrailia?

xo,
Bex

[39 · Posted by K · October 27, 2009 at 05:48 PM]

Hello!

Seeing the list of "Previously on Pussycat" in the sidebar reminds me - there's a café in Morningside (called Rocket) that serves Flat Whites. I failed to notice this until I'd already ordered a latté, but if I find myself there again I'll get a Flat White and think of you! (Also to find out what they are.) The place seems to have at least 2 Australians working there, so presumably they're authentic...

Their lemon cake is very good, too.