Medical Knightmares

Today I have been prodded, poked, injected, inspected, irradiated and left waiting.. all in the name of "Form 26, Medical examination for an Australian Visa".

All things considered, it went quite smoothly. I booked the medical online on the previous friday, and recieved an appointment for 8am the following monday. They charged about $250 to my card.
When I turned up at 7:45, the shutters were down and no-one was home, and there was a queue. It takes a special kind of government based institution to achieve queues while not even open.
They opened the doors at 7:59 and 61 seconds, and I proceeded to the next queue.
Then 10 minutes later I handed my forms to the receptionist, and was allowed to sit.
I'm from the UK, I'm used to waiting. My way of dealing with it is, have no expectations when you get there. Oh, and then they turned on the tele in the waiting room... morning TV, if there was anything to make the waiting seem longer...
Still, after waiting I was called up by a very polite doctor or assistant, weighed, measured, given a cup to pee in, left to sit, called back, had my veins pierced, blood taken, left to sit, called back to the (grumpy - not a morning person) doctor, ignored, stripped, poked, prodded, told to sit, called back X-ray'ed, and then shoved out the door onto the street.
And looking at my watch I was suprised to find that only an hour of my life had been stolen. I could have sworn that I'd been in that tardus of a waiting room for a few days. I have no idea how the poor Iranian parents with triplets managed to keep their children quiet the whole time, what heroes!
Still I survived, and apart from some brusing due to a pierced blood vessel, and a feeling of empathy for cattle at the slaughterhouse, I am unscathed. Still, now I'm waiting again.. on the results of all the AIDs, Heppatitus, TB tests!
Hopefully I'll be given the all clear, and then I can attempt to start remaining in this country long enough to convince someone to give me a Job.

More to come... D.