Istanbul Emniyet

I have now made two visits to the Istanbul Emniyet in the long and complicated process of getting my residency visa, one on Christmas Day and one last week when the snow was falling. It is exactly as I expected it to be; a huge and utilitarian concrete building that at any hour of the day is swarming with people of practicaly any nationality you can think of. It is chaos; people shouting and gesturing, bustling and rushing, sitting and waiting. When I was there last week I even caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman in labour being manouvered into a fold-out wheelchair surrounded by a gaggle of clucking relatives. What a place for a new life to begin. I'm bracing myself for what I hope will be my last trip tomorrow.