I am now caught in the middle of lawyers and HR again.... our dear little lawyer in Cyprus informed HR yesterday that there was a bond of 1000 euros to pay for my work permit (in case I do something bad and have to be deported!), and my response is, oh, why didn't someone tell me about that before? To which HR says, well, the lawyer told me it was a new requirement, just voted. Nonsense, I said, you may wish to ask her what she did with the bond the company posted for me last year, plus the ones for all the other people who have worked there - HR is new and hasn't had experience of this lawyer before, but goes off in shock to find this out. Have not heard back.

The really hilarious thing is that the lawyer said, all Ally needs to do is to go to any Cypriot bank in Paris and pay this! Lovely, in theory, but in fact there ARE no Cypriot banks in Paris. Like there are about five Cypriot banks, to start with, they have branches in Cyprus and usually in Greece, maybe in Australia or the UK, or even Russia, but not in Paris. This is typical of this lawyer, she is the one who told me to go to the Cypriot Embassy in Paris between last Christmas and New Year and get a visa for Cyprus - this embassy is not open between Christmas and New Year, except for emergencies, and does not issue visas to New Zealanders, in any case, as they do not require them. I also told her that in any case I had plans for that week that did not include being in Paris to visit embassies, and her response was something like, well, as you live in Paris and you are not married, I didn't think you would have anything else to do at Christmas! After what I said about that, Leo wouldn't let me talk to her again...

Still have heaps to do before I go, but I did manage to get to the Post Office this morning to pick up a registered letter that turned out to be some linen from Sew and Sew in the UK, enough Antique Ivory for a sampler, and some Flax that I need for a few smaller things. I must get the stitching bag packed.