So I met an Entry Clearance Officer...

A new Pilates course has begun and we got on the subject of immigration. (Clooney is our new neighbor).  It turns out one of the new women works at the airport as an ECO at the airport.  She wouldn't tell me ANYTHING!  I asked a simple question that I really don't think is proprietary information and she just smiled and said she can't answer any questions.  Was she just having an ego trip?  My question was this...  Is our travel history electronically recorded or is it only based on stamps....

I completely understand how she wouldn't be allowed to answer quite a variety of questions, for one reason or another. However, that one seems like it is one that could be answered without risking national security, helping terrorists/people who want to sneak in illegally/other naughty people get away with something because of a security breach. It was a very general information question. Maybe overcautious, maybe an ego trip. I would have answered that one without feeling I might get fired for a security breach.

I completely agree about not being able to answer a question that wouldn't protect the border.  But I thought that one was pretty generic... 

However, that one seems like it is one that could be answered without risking national security, helping terrorists/people who want to sneak in illegally/other naughty people get away with something because of a security breach.

I completely agree about not being able to answer a question that wouldn't protect the border.  But I thought that one was pretty generic...  

Y'all don't have much imagination.  

Here's a scenario:

Interested Citizen: Is our travel history electronically registered or is it only based on stamps?
ECO: I really shouldn't tell you, but it's not electronically registered.  The only way we can tell how long you've been in the UK in the past, or where else you've been, is to look at the stamps and do maths.

Later, Interested Citizen - who happens to be a member of UK-Yankee - posts "I met an ECO, and it turns out they don't track our travel history."

Hopeful Immigrant, who just returned to the USA after spending the full 6 months of their UK visitor visa with their partner in the UK, reads about how the UK isn't tracking travel histories, immediately throws their US passport away, tells the US government it was lost, gets a brand new one with no stamps in it, and then buys a ticket back to the UK.

That's just off the top of my head.  I'm sure given a few hours I could come up with more sinister plots.  Even if I can't, if the word spread that they don't check travel histories electronically, I bet the Daily Mail could come up with some.

That's probably why she didn't answer the question.  

Y'all don't have much imagination.  

Here's a scenario:

Interested Citizen: Is our travel history electronically registered or is it only based on stamps?
ECO: I really shouldn't tell you, but it's not electronically registered.  The only way we can tell how long you've been in the UK in the past, or where else you've been, is to look at the stamps and do maths.

Later, Interested Citizen - who happens to be a member of UK-Yankee - posts "I met an ECO, and it turns out they don't track our travel history."

Hopeful Immigrant, who just returned to the USA after spending the full 6 months of their UK visitor visa with their partner in the UK, reads about how the UK isn't tracking travel histories, immediately throws their US passport away, tells the US government it was lost, gets a brand new one with no stamps in it, and then buys a ticket back to the UK.

That's just off the top of my head.  I'm sure given a few hours I could come up with more sinister plots.  Even if I can't, if the word spread that they don't check travel histories electronically, I bet the Daily Mail could come up with some.

That's probably why she didn't answer the question.  

I am standing and applauding!  Love it....  And very true.

I have all  kinds of imagination. I am just not devious enough to think that way.  Good thinking. 

I keep thinking about this lady going home afterwards and saying to her flatmate, "I was like at Pilates, and this American kept bugging me with questions".   

Lol!  Poor girl, right?  The instructors husband is not British and he just recently got ILR.  Chick was surrounded by people who don't necessarily love the Home Office.   

No listen, my cousin Larry is a proctologist and he says he can't remember how many times in a social setting people have asked him for advice. He's like, "You know all week long for nine hours.....it's the last thing I want to talk about over the buffet table."

He says they usually try to tip-toe up to it, but that at some point there is a jarring segue: "Hey Doc, these pigs-in-a-blanket sure are tasty aren't they? By-the-way..."

No listen, my cousin Larry is a proctologist and he says he can't remember how many times in a social setting people have asked him for advice. He's like, "You know all week long for nine hours.....it's the last thing I want to talk about over the buffet table."

He says they usually try to tip-toe up to it, but that at some point there is a jarring segue: "Hey Doc, these pigs-in-a-blanket sure are tasty aren't they? By-the-way..."

You must be taking a piss!   

......ummmmm, or is that, "giving the piss"?  Er, no... I'm pretty sure it's "taking".... 

*serious contemplative expression*

Ah, I know! ..... Taking a kiss! 

..... Oh, bollocks! These British sayings are going to get me in serious trouble one day, I just know it! 

You must be pulling my leg!

Ahhhh, that will work! 

You must be taking a piss!   

......ummmmm, or is that, "giving the piss"?  Er, no... I'm pretty sure it's "taking".... 

*serious contemplative expression*

Ah, I know! ..... Taking a kiss! 

..... Oh, bollocks! These British sayings are going to get me in serious trouble one day, I just know it! 

Lol - almost there, it's 'taking the piss' ('taking a piss' means that you're in the middle of going to the bathroom ).

No listen, my cousin Larry is a proctologist and he says he can't remember how many times in a social setting people have asked him for advice. He's like, "You know all week long for nine hours.....it's the last thing I want to talk about over the buffet table."

Try being a meteorologist in a country obsessed with the weather .

I try to avoid telling people what I do because I inevitably get the question: 'what's it going to be like on (insert day of the week)?' or 'will I be able to have a BBQ at the weekend?'.. but when I'm not at work, I barely even think about what the weather's doing .

Try being a meteorologist in a country obsessed with the weather .

I love weather. I don't know if the Weather Channel was around when you were in the US, but I was a junky. Twenty four hour weather! With Storm Chasers and such....

I tried to read a book on the maths behind what you guys do and couldn't get past the intro. Apparently there ain't nothing linear about air movement.

You must be taking a piss!   

You know this post just got me thinking about a proctologist at a party. Just a guy standing there with a glass of warmish Zinfandel....and people would drift over...

Salesman guy: Hi I'm Harvey Lightner, I sell tyres.
Proctologist: Oh Hi, Merv Blalock......I'm just waiting on Diane.
SG: What are you into Merv....can I call you Merv?
Proc: Sure. I'm a proctologist.
SG: Welllllllll doggie! Isn't that something. That is something else isn't it? Been busy?

This reminds me of the Friends episode where Rachel dates the gynaecologist.  He says a lot of women have a problem with his profession and she was all, "Yeah, the cute doctor thing".  And he says, "do you ever think, if I see one more cup of coffee."  (She's a waitress at a coffee shop). 

Baaaa haaaaa haaaa!   

I love weather. I don't know if the Weather Channel was around when you were in the US, but I was a junky. Twenty four hour weather! With Storm Chasers and such....

According to Wikipedia, the Weather Channel was founded the year before I was born, so it's always been around when I've been in the US . I used to watch it more before I trained as a meteorologist though - it's lost its appeal a bit now though .

I tried to read a book on the maths behind what you guys do and couldn't get past the intro. Apparently there ain't nothing linear about air movement.

Yeah, the maths of fluid dynamics is complicated, and forecasting is unpredictable by nature - just one slight change in the starting conditions on one day can drastically affect the forecast for a couple of days later (the whole chaos theory thing).

Luckily I don't have to use the mathematics on a daily basis in forecasting (my job is a lot more about monitoring the current weather, comparing it with models to work out how it will develop over the next 24 hours and briefing pilots on the weather conditions before they fly), but we need to understand what the equations mean in physical terms so that we can explain why things are moving and changing the way they are .