Yesterday morning I went into the city to visit the Department of Immigration. Which, is in itself a bit of a circus. They've got the whole "queue up to queue up again" thing happening. You get in a line to get a ticket and then get in another line to wait to go stand at a counter. Waiting around in one big room always seems to foster a bit of community: I was ticket J027 so J026 and I ended up watching bad 80's Australian soaps (Sons and Daughters) together for 45 minutes until our numbers were called, respectively.
I only needed a visa label in my passport, but some customers are not so lucky. Some are in for interviews or putting in complicated applications to bring their wife and children from the middle east to Australia. Imagine how nervous they must be, their entire livelihood hanging on one interview with an immigration agent to decide their family's fate. I have a lot of sympathy for these people since I can imagine myself sitting in that seat as well.
All this was very exciting, but by far the best part of the trip was ducking into Target to pick up clothes hangers. I ended up in what resembled a jungle scene of women in business suits racing around the women's apparel department grabbing at merchandise like their lives depended on it. The new Stella McCartney collection just opened one hour earlier (apparently) and it was like nothing I've ever seen before.
Picture: a platinum blond gay man/target employee running down the aisle pushing a wheely rack with silk tops and scarves yelling "I've got scarves!! This is the last of them, after these are gone there are no more! I've got the scarves!!" at the swarms of women. Who were, of course, clambering over top of each other to get at the scarves. It was comical. I wish I had a video phone because it would have qualified for a YouTube video. I mean, the clothes weren't even that cute. Sheesh.
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