Entry Visas...

We travelled up to Cardiff to hand over our applications for the entry visas last Fri. It was a little of an anticlimax as the guy who checked over our forms, supporting documents and passports had never seen this type of visa issued to 3 obviously non-Indian people and he had also not heard of Auroville. He wanted to open our letters of recommendation which we had been told could invalidate them. They are strictly for the Indian Embassy in London. So after 20 mins of confusion, he agreed to send off our applications to his superior to be checked before forwarding them to the London office for processing. He didn't take the payment as would do that by phone once they had been given the ok. You can imagine it being a little nervewracking to leave the office with nothing but a reciept and a promise that we would hear from them within a few days.

So, on Tues C got the call for the payment and has been getting updates since as to the progress of our applications. Was told they were dispatched yesterday so was expecting a knock at the door today and lo and behold at 9am they arrived!

 

Will be getting the plane tickets later today too which only leaves our coach tickets to London and the overnight hotel stay to be bought. It all feels so much more real now. Funny really, as we have been planning this for some time but even so the reality of our move just caught up with me as the postman handed over our passports. We're actually doing this.

 

In other news, I got K's eyes tested recently after a mother at K's nursery handed me a flyer about the importance of testing children's eyes early on - they can be tested from the age of 2 which can be helpful in aiding their learning as if left it won't get detected until they reach school age. I'd been planning to as poor eyesight runs in the family (I've had glasses since I was 5) but it spurred me on and he does need glasses. We just picked them up yesterday, pretty nifty Lego themed frames and so am now slowly trying to introduce periods of wearing them. He is doing well so far.

 

 

I would stress the importance of getting your children's eyes tested early on, even if you don't think they are needed, children get free eyetests and glasses up until the age of 16 here in the UK so it won't even cost you anything. K showed no signs of needing them as he is long sighted and I was only really looking for signs of short sightedness as that is what runs in the family. It could make a big difference!

 

We went to Puxton Park on Mon which is near Weston Super Mare and had a really lovely family day out. Have also enjoyed a few more canal walks and are heading down to Cornwall next weekend to visit some family which should be fun with a possible overnight camping trip on the way home with some friends.

 

We are enjoying the beautiful weather although knowing how much sun we will soon be living with makes me much less inclined to go out in the middle of the day and have so far avoided getting burnt. 

 

 So with just 7 weeks exactly until we leave for London, we are getting more things done and the flat is emptying even more. It is still a fun process and a very spiritually cleansing exercise in letting go. Bittersweet but full or promise of things to come.

 

More soon. L xx