We are advised not to worry

I spent yesterday morning calling the Canadian Embassy asking questions and figuring out what to do if Per's visa doesn't arrive in time. We were advised not to worry by the guy at the embassy, who seems to know exactly who I am when I call, since I practically lived on the phone to him while we were preparing the application in February. I'll tell you this: applying for a visa to Canada is the opposite of simple, even if you're married. Picture if you will a table stacked high with papers, forms, guides, requests for photos, requests for details on every trip you've ever taken, requests for blood tests, police reports, evidence of everything you've eaten, seen, thought, said, or done since you were born... Such was the scene at our place during all of February.

Anyway, around lunchtime, with comical timing, a letter from the Canadian High commission in London dropped through the mail slot, which stated that the visa has been granted! Actually it stated that "your immigrant visas appear ready to be issued", as if they were as surprised as we were that it happened so fast. I celebrated the moments directly following the news with a dance in which the skilled eye could pick out Hawaiian, Russian, and breakdance influences. (oddly, no Canadian, although perhaps that was also present in a subtle way)

I don't really want to put in a bunch of asides here about who's who, what everything refers to, but since it could be confusing/annoying in some cases if I don't, refer to the About Me section for clarification. Not that it will really clarify much.
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Swedish word learned today:
begära- request

Swedish word I like of the day:
hoppsan!- oops!/oopsie!

Long Swedish word of the day: (there are many looooong words in Swedish where 3 or more words are chained together with no spaces in-between)
vuxenutbildningscentrum- Adult Education Centre

I was looking in the V section of the phonebook. The letter W was not included in the Swedish alphabet until recently, and any word that starts with W is usually pronounced as V. ( ex. Wikström is pronounced Vikström.) In the phonebook the V's are directly followed by the Y's, and the V pages are a mishmash of both V and W names. I'm not sure why I need to report this, only that it's pleasing somehow. I relate this kind of information to the kind of absurdity/nonsense that I like in Alice in Wonderland, where rules are relative. In one context they make perfect sense; in another they become silly and unnecessary.
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On Friday last week a construction crew arrived and began tearing up sections of the courtyard. It's clear they're going to re-tile a section, but rather unclear why they're tearing up the grass and dumping loads of dirt everywhere. It was awful to see the grass being brutally torn up! It's so easy to destroy things. I often see people in the building across from us standing at their windows watching the progress of the work. A whole category of conversation and thought must have been triggered by this development. I'll have to add to my list of Random Desires Not Easily Fulfilled: To hear everyone's comments about the construction as they watch. A rather mundane desire, for sure, but it would be sort of entertaining.