As yet another October comes to an end I'd like to reflect upon dumb good fortune and how it sometimes pays a visit. Some of you will know that Ann and I are in the process of trying to bring her daughter JJ to Australia on a 445 visa. Any kind of visa and any communication at a deep level with government is likely to be fraught and the risks of getting it wrong are not to be taken lightly. Visa documents and processes are complicated and dogged by official language and puzzling omissions and repetitions.

That said, most mistakes are made by the applicants. Ann and I sent JJ's visa application (two lengthy documents and many attachments) to Thailand in March. JJ and her father then presented said documents and a whopping fee to a designated visa collection agency two weeks later in Bangkok. All seemed to go well and nothing more was heard until last week when Ann, curious that there had been no communication from the Australian authorities, asked JJ to double check her email account.

Here is where the fun starts! We were aghast to learn that there was an email, dated May 15, that had requested a police check from yours truly, as the one I had supplied had expired. This is not normally a problem except when one peruses the small print - Please supply the document within 28 days! Panic stations ensued because this deadline had long since passed in June and my reading of the official tea-leaves was clear - no police check, no visa. Moreover, the visa process would continue without the document and would therefore fail.

A flurry of emails later, and following many earnest prayers, we got the reprieve we had not thought possible - an extension. The relief was more than palpable - I cried tears of sheer release, because I thought we were sunk. But good fortune smiled and for that I am grateful.

Whose mistake was this? At the simplest level, it was ours, because we should have been alert to all communications. On another level, one might see a flaw in the wisdom of sending an important official email to a 14 year old school girl and not to either of her parents.

But the best response is always gratitude and we are truly grateful.