Well, I went to the Consulate in Kensington first thing this morning, and got my visa application in with remarkably little fuss. All that remains now is to return on the 9th of January to collect my visa (I didn't go for a fast-track as Language Link said not to bother - yes, their e-mail actually came). So remarkably successful then.

Just a couple of things worth recording. In the queue at the Consulate, waiting for the gates to open, I got talking to a very nice, newly-retired retired man, accompanied by his daughter. He is going to Russia (Moscow and St Petes) for a month 'for something to do', has never been before, and is looking forward to it immensely. It's not often I give my e-mail address to men in their fifties but I wouldn't be averse meeting up with him in Moscow. He grilled me with lots of questions - about the language, what to wear, what I was doing out there, the whole visa process. That sort of thing.

I asked him how far he had come - the Canaries, he said, via Wiltshire, where his daughter lives. It seemed he lives in the Canaries permanently but in order to apply for a visa, had to come all the way to London. A bit out of his way!

The second thing I want to mention is the new queueing system the Consulate has implemented some time since last year. If you can imagine, there are two entrances, gates with revolving doors, that lead into the grounds of the consulate, and these are locked until the building opens to the public at 9am. One gate is for visa applications and is clearly signed as such; the other, I assume, is for staff/tradesmen and things. So here I was in the front of the queue (third, actually, behind the retired man and his daughter), having arrived 40 minutes early. 9am rolls around, and the Consulate opens the gate - but not the one everyone is queuing at, the other one! So the people at the back of the queue get in first... hmmm. A British tradition effectively scuppered.

Ah yes, there was one other thing. When you apply for a visa, you must specify whether you want a same-day visa, one ready in 3-5 days, or a 'one-week visa'. Now what makes me laugh is that a one-week visa takes six working days... and the Consulate is only open four days a week! That's not a week to me. So that's why my one-week visa will be ready in 10 days time, not a week (also, the staff have the 1st, 2nd and 7th off as public holidays).