Well the festival was a washout, not literally. But it co-incided with the start of the recent wave of trouble right across North Africa. Down here the indigenous people and the occupying Moroccans live uneasily but mainly amicably in peace with each other. It's a bit like the catholics and protestants in Northern Ireland. Most people just want to live their lives in peace, so they do. But the local lads are always up for a punch up, and there is always somebody wanting to make trouble because of something they think they believe in but haven't woken up yet and realised that they are being fed a line by some bloke miles away with an even bigger axe to grind and what better time than when the king pays for a music festivaland there are tourists in town so lets smash a few windows and look threatening, but don't go too far because if we really upset the police we might get shot, or a kicking in the cells at tghe very least.
Phew! So the festival was cancelled after one night, and the tourists left en masse. It was amazing, one day the whole beach was full of vans and tents from all over the place - mostly french motorhomes.....and you should have seen them go! A day later and there were just 4 vans on the beach - us and a convoy of Czech surfer kids who didn't have the slightest clue because they were living the dream man....sleep smoke surf smoke surf smoke eat smoke shag smoke sleep ........ It took us a while to get on nodding terms with them because we looked pretty square to them, but they were nice kids, working back home, saving, and then taking off in a van. Like me! Living the dream.
After that the place was pretty deserted - ha ha pun! Geddit? Desert - ed .......groan.
So then we just settled in to a period of easy living on the beach. We were waiting now for documents to be sent from England to support Luda's up coming visa application in Rabat.
And that has brought up all sorts of memories and issues. It's time to deal with Her Majesties government representatives who get to decide just who can visit our wonderful country. When we applied last year in Kuala Lumpur they turned her down flat. I wasn't blogging then, but still have the emails sent and received, and some reading this will know what we went through. It was simple enough, and although it was hard for us, now I am more familiar with the system, I can't really complain. We had only been together a few months, and they just treated the whole application like it was some Russian bird latching on to a lonely british bloke....in Thailand for god's sake!! So we never had a chance really. They just assumed we were a holiday romance. Can't blame then for that really. It was true at the time. When I finally started to look into it properly and consulted an immigration lawyer back home, he wasn't surprised either. Be together and stay together, and keep a record, and apply again next year, was his advice.
So we have, and in many respects it has been a good thing for us both. We have been living in the motorhome together since August last year, through Ukraine, Turkey and Morocco, an epic trip around the fringes of Europe. It's the same as living in a one room appartment, you are together all the time. That would be a good test of any relationship! And it has been wonderful! We are totally devoted to each other.
So here we are again, this time in Rabat, where perhaps the process will be more pleasant than Kuala Lumpur. You no longer have any contact with the embassy staff. They have a private company who handles the applications. So all you can do is read the website, download the documents, and deliver your application in person, and have your fingers and face scanned.
Having been refused once, we are petrified of it happening again, as it will again force us to separate. I have to go home once a year to tax, mot and insure the van, and of course to visit family. It will be hard to do it alone especially now that everybody who knows me, also knows Luda, and is dying to meet her in person, rather than on Skype. Last year it was quite embarassing to have to repeatedly tell people that my partner was refused a visa - there is quite a stigma about it. If they don't let her in this time, she will fly back to Thailand and resume her Yoga studies, and I will join her as soon as I can after driving the van home and doing my family and paperwork stuff.
The absurd thing is that she doesn't even want or need to go to the UK, except to be with me and meet my family, as I have hers. Neither of us ever want to spend another winter in Europe. We just want to be able to do our stuff together, and enjoy the good fortune we have of having the means and time to travel the world, and not have these enforced separations every year. Everybody says well get married then! And we will, but neither of us want a "shotgun wedding" in some far away place, no matter how romantic. We want to plan it, savour it and enjoy it, at a time and place of our choosing, and with our dearest friends and family. One day we may want to settle down, but it could be anywhere.
So fingers crossed!
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