Two weeks back in the UK and not a single blog written. (Editor’s note: Roll forward almost another two weeks, and it’s still not been published…Kimberley. ‘Doing it now!’ I say after Phil’s gentle nudging.)
So, first things first. The journey back was long and also a bit of a weird sensation. I have always considered the UK as home and will always love it. But, somehow, I don’t feel like it is ‘home’ now. Instead, it feels like a place I have been coming to on holiday all my life, with lots of family and friends and intimate knowledge of so many places that remind me of different memories in my life.
We’ve had some questions from the lovely readers of this blog. What is happening? When are you going back to Portugal? Why are you back in the UK? So, let’s take the questions in reverse order.
Why are we back in the UK and when are we going back to Portugal?
The short answer is we don’t know. As short a time as possible, we hope, but it could be two months or longer. There are so many balls up in the air right now, from all the baby steps we have been taking, and we are not sure in what order they will all come back down.
What we do know categorically is that it will be in the right order. The only thing to do right now is to wait and take even more steps. In the meantime, we have a family wedding at the end of October which we would always have been in the UK for and we’re really looking forward to it!
The first ball up in the air is making an application for an extended visa. Since Brexit, British citizens can only stay in the Schengen European countries for 90 days in any 180 day period. With an extended visa though, you’re allowed to stay long term as long as you keep renewing your visa and meet all the eligibility requirements.
We were going to get an agency to help with this but now think that the experience of doing it ourselves will be more enlightening. Of course, we also have the fantastic lawyer Liliana to take advice and guidance from.
The first part of this process involves getting a definitive list of all the various documents and hoops that need to be jumped through ready for the meeting with VSF in the UK (VSF are an agency who deal with the UK side of this process). You have to ensure you can show income and savings to SEF (Portuguese Immigration), so you won’t be a drain on the system. You need to have various legal checks including criminal record checks done. When you’ve got all the paperwork together, you then have to submit it along with your passport….and then wait for it to be returned.
Rumour has it you can wait anything from one to three months for your passport to be sent back, so that is the aspect we can’t control and are going to have to just leave to the Universe to get it back to us at just the right time. It is going to be fun, and I promise to go through it all as and when it happens.
So now to the next question, what is happening on the land?
Well, lots, which brings us to the next ball in the air. So much is happening that, honestly, if we were there, we would just be in the way right now, but the steps we have been taking are very exciting.
Phase one is the building of ‘Mission Control’ and it’s cracking on at a tremendous pace. For new readers, Mission Control is a large shelter where we can park TUT, our campervan. Phase one also involves creating access so we can drive onto the land and park up and this means knocking some of the dry stone wall down and putting a gate on also.
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Before clearing – entrance gateway -
After – the entrance has been cleared for the driveway
Right now, weather permitting, this phase will be finished by the middle of October before the main winter rains arrive. Jacques and his team have been doing tremendous work. Not a moment goes by where I don’t feel a sense of awe and amazement at the perfection of this project. It feels almost too big to comprehend and is very humbling.
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Before clearing the area in front of the house -
After clearing the field in front of what will be our home
While all this is going on, our lawyer is doing the paperwork to change the permitted use of the building from agricultural store to urban which means we can then start to renovate it into our home. We’re waiting for the land registry to first change the names on the title deeds to ours and then Liliana can put the application in. The name changing process generally takes a month, so we have about two more weeks to go on that, then the change of use can take several months. Patience, patience, big Phil.
The great thing is that we have so much to talk to our family and friends about from the trip. (And about 2,500 photos, though we find most people’s boredom threshold seems to be about 12!) We see each of our children and catch up on all their exciting life adventures. It is a great time for them and us.
We see Kimberley’s folks Maureen and Peter. They have been taking care of the third musketeer, our Bichon called Joey, while we were away, and we are truly grateful for their constant support. I have actually missed him terribly (Joey, not Peter) but please don’t tell anyone. You see I was never a dog person and was assured when we got him that I wouldn’t have to get involved in his care at all because everyone else in the family would do it. But here we are, seven years later, in our campervan with a dog who I look after singlehandedly when Kimberley is working. How did that happen?
We have been really busy on lots of other projects too, but more on those next time. As I write this, I’m listening to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in F Major. As the great man himself said of his symphony, ‘It is more the expression of feeling than painting.’ For me, this music makes me feel like I am living the dream on CasaBo already!
