AND HERE I AM

We made it to London! It was a very busy and rather stressful two weeks between submitting my dissertation for examination and leaving Australia - lots of packing, admin, sending, storing and seeing loads of friends (the latter was not stressful!). I just wanted to share my experience going through UK border control, before I forget. I waited in the enormous queue, finally got to the desk, and the man asked, "Your reason for coming to the UK?" I got a little thrill when I replied, "Settlement"...

Him: *Glances over landing card* What kind of academic are you?
Me: Cultural studies. I've just submitted my PhD dissertation for examination.
Him: What was the topic?
Me: Trans viewers of trans cinema.
Him: *Quizzical*
Me: So, films with transgender characters.
Him: Oh! *Long pause* The Crying Game!
Me: Yep!
Him: And Dog Day Afternoon?
Me: Yeah, exactly. But rather than just talking about the films, my project was talking to trans people about what they thought about the films and how they watched them and stuff.
Him: Ah. *Does some computery thing*
Me: Because not many people actually talk to trans people about how we feel about films about us. [YES I SO CASUALLY MADE REFERENCE TO MY TRANS STATUS]
Him: *Very slight double take* We get lots of transgender people through here. I mean, we get a lot of people through here, and... *Gestures vaguely at my passport*
Me: Yeah, unfortunately all these documents have an F on them. The Australian government only changed their passport policy about two weeks ago, so I didn't have time to get a new passport.
Him: Really? Only two weeks ago? *checks visa* So why did the UK government put an F on... Oh, I see, they had to make the visa match the passport. You should be able to get a new passport when you're here, though.
Me: Yeah, I'm planning on it!
Him: All right. *Collects all documents and hands passport back to me* There you go, sir. Have a good afternoon, enjoy London.
Me: Thanks very much.

And thus ended the nicest conversation I've ever had with UK border control. A++ training on trans issues, people.