Water into Wine

No post in over a year -- my first year of marriage. I think that's alright. Want to try and actually live life and not just react to it. A worrying trend in our blogging age? Is this a blogging age?

My wife installed a couple of weddings in Napa Valley recently, so I got to visit again. This, along with the fact my in-laws also live in wine country, means I've been thinking a lot about vino.

I quite like wine. It's good. Like the majority of humans, I have no idea what to do when a waiter hands me the wine list, but I've got the usual nonsense I can bring out for such occasions:

1) "Mmm, such a full body."
2) "That has tons of bouquet, it really does."

and if I'm feeling really dangerous:

3) "So cleansing. So cleansing on the palate, that one."

But, despite having the taste buds of a 12-year-old, I think I can tell the difference between a good bottle and a bad bottle.

Napa Valley is basically a freak of geography. It's about 22 miles long and, at its biggest part, about 2 miles wide. California didn't really take to wine-making until very recently - around the 1970s. For further information, watch 'Bottle Shock' starring Alan Rickman. It tells the story of how a blind taste test against the French (who were pretty much against the idea of Americans producing wine) saw a Californian wine win. That's really what brought wine-making to America.

And Napa Valley is the place. Because of the valley, it means the area gets the scorching heat during the day and the cold at night. The mountains on either side lock in the cold at night - so it gets the perfect cycle for wine making. It gets the heat and it gets the cold. My in-laws live in another area that produces wine, but it's not as famous as Napa because it doesn't have the mountains on either side giving it a more rounded cycle.

Armed with this knowledge, I've been re-reading the story of Jesus turning the water into wine.

John 2:
9 When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom 10 and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.”
 
Here's a couple of things I saw:

1) Jesus is in the business of producing good wine.
2) This produce won't arrive in the timing culture might expect.

So many times I've thought I've missed the boat on something only to be proved wrong by a more divine timing. I suddenly made a connection:

Psalm 23:
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,[a]
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me
 
These valley times that we go through - the lonely times; the confusing times; the horrendous dark nights of the soul - suddenly they turn upside down.

John 15
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
 
More wine language.

Because of the valleys, we get the perfect cycle to produce the best wine. There will be a waiting period - something we do NOT understand in our culture, and there will be pruning - sometimes painful.

So I am going to try my best to stay away from what I am now coining 'Lambrusco Faith'. For Americans, 'Two-Buck-Chuck'.

UK Immigration

In July 2012, the British government made sweeping changes to their immigration laws.

It is now so much harder for married couples from two different countries to be together. The UK national must be earning over £18,600 PA for six months or have cash savings of over £64,000 before they can apply for a spousal visa. It starts to get very, very complicated if you are a freelancer or have income from two different sources. Here's a petition and a story about a lady who faces giving birth to her first child alone as her foreign spouse faces deportation two months before the due date: 

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/theresa-may-don-t-force-me-to-give-birth-without-my-husband?bucket&source=facebook-share-button&time=1390415738

There is a sneaky way around this law that people have tried to utilise called the 'Surinder Singh' route. In its most basic form, under European law (a law the UK government can't change), the married couple can legally live and work in an EU/EEA country for at least four months and then re-enter the UK without hindrance. They can apply for the spousal visa they always wanted without anyone stopping them - it's even FREE through this route. For a BBC video article on the subject, see here: 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-23029195

My wife and I got married in September 2013 and attempted the Surinder Singh route for months; tirelessly looking for a way into another EU country, all to no avail. The US route didn't seem to offer much help either, as we were told I would have to be out of the country whilst my green card processed. That could take up to nine months, so the reality of us being separated at some point in our marriage grew so much that we genuinely didn't see a way out.

My wife's tourist visa ran out just before Christmas, so we hopped on a plane to California not knowing what was next. As she had maxed out her tourist time in the UK, we knew she wouldn't be able to re-enter until June 2014. Not great.

But, after a trip to LA - the city where we met - some doors opened for both of us. We then had a consultation with yet another immigration lawyer who confirmed that I can legally overstay my tourist visa in the US whilst my green card gets processed. So, for the first time in a year, we can breathe a sigh of relief that we don't have to be apart. It looks like we're moving here. But it's still early days.

This whole process has really affected me, and has left something of a bitter taste in my mouth about how my country is currently conducting itself. We have come face-to-face with UK policy that is biased, racist, anti-marriage and has caused me to, literally, flee the country of my birth so I can stay with my wife. I didn't even get to say a proper goodbye to my friends, family, nieces and nephews.

Immigration is such a hot topic - everyone seems to have an opinion. It's one of those topics that seem to evoke a passionate response out of even the most politically apathetic. I've heard so many people say there are far too many foreigners in the UK who are sponging off the benefit system; but I wonder how many of these people have actually seen the numbers and can make a case for and against certain spending? Because, if they haven't, and have such strong opinions without evidence, that's... interesting.

So. I am now in setting up life in the new world like so many before me. I'm sure this will lead to many more comedic blog posts. Please read the petition above and sign if you feel so called. These aren't abstract numbers, they are human beings.

"I have never welcomed the weakening of family ties by politics or pressure" - Nelson Mandela.