Fiji. Then Aukland. Then Sydney. The anguish of being called on this by boxley is hard cheese indeed, but I will bear it bravely.
With the retrieval of my passport, which I had prudently decided to renew in advance of its scheduled lapse in January—my horror at finding the $67 check to the State Department still clinging to its microperforations a week later as I prepared to write out the mortgage payment, to say nothing of my wailing and self-laceration, may be readily imagined—kindly returned with a starchy note by the Passport Agency after just ten days away, the odds are looking better. If it's to happen (a couple of other elements need to align just so), I'll know it by a week from now.
cordially,