Well we finally made it!
May I introduce you to my wife, Mrs Funkyronster!
So much has happened in a year or so. I now write this blog more for a diary for us, than a blog for the outside world. But we are happy to share, if it inspires just a single person, then that's cool.
So last time we were in Thailand, waiting for the immigration authorities to do their thing. Well it took 6 months, and a lot of money, but once we employed a solicitor, it was all plain sailing. Luda has to take an English examination in Bangkok, which was a stress, but there was never a problem, she passed with very high marks. Then a 3 inch thick application was couriered to the embassy in Bangkok, where they took 3 excruciating months to process it.
Finally we had one of those seminal moments in life, where the envelope is in your hand, and the decision is only a few fumbling seconds away. And do you know what? You cry either way. The relief that it is all finally over completely overwhelms the emotion of success or failure.
It's horrible to have your destiny in the hands of others, especially a faceless bureaucracy. It's demeaning and dehumanising, and has changed my world view and politics for ever. But that's another story.
So our success was sweet, all the sweeter that we opened the envelope under a palm tree on a tropical beach. Life was good, and we will never forget that magic moment.
Sigh.
The rest of 2012 was a blur ..... our marriage licence ran out on the 22nd of June, and the marriage visa took ages, arriving on the 28th of May! We had three weeks to get home and get married! If we didn't get married by the 22nd of June we would have had to get a new marriage licence which would have been a hassle, and we were clean out of hassles.
So the 22nd of June found us in Ruthin registry office, with 21 close family and friends enjoying what turned out to be a perfect day.
The 23rd of June 2012 was the first day of the rest of our lives. We had no plans, not even a thought. We had long stopped even thinking about making plans - it was just our way of coping with the stress of not knowing if we would succeed.
So we just decided to drift for a while, enjoying every day as it came.
We headed north in the van, and spent an idyllic few weeks wandering around the lake District and Scotland.
Then one day the phone rang and tragedy struck - for others, not us, but we received news of not one but two tragic deaths in our friends and family.
It turned into a summer of sadness, and by the time summer had ended, we had lost several close friends and family, and several more deaths of more distant friends and relatives, and one much loved and faithful dog. One morbid evening we counted the toll ..... and we ran out of fingers.
Such is life.
So as the weather closed in for winter, we were still in the van, no closer to finding a place to live, or even knowing where and how we wanted to live.
So we did the only thing we could think of, and headed back to Thailand, now our second home, for winter.
Life is so different here, this island has gradually drawn us into it's heart. He have now spent half of the last 3 years here, all of it together. It is almost home.
But we have dear family and friends back home, and limited resources. The party is over, we need to be productive again .......
Where and how ...... that is now the big question in our life.
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