A blog to keep me in touch with the visual side of myself. Every day I post something about my life in Buddha Garden, a farm in Auroville, South India
Friday, 28 July 2017
The visa trip
Today was very tiring as I went
to London for the day to apply for my visa.
The place is near Heathrow airport which meant a trip out to Hounslow on
the tube and then quite a long walk to the office.
Had a very long animated
discussion with the person who dealt with me who said that as a non Indian I
could not apply for a five year Entry Visa.
She tried to give me a five year Tourist visa which I know is
wrong. In the end I said I would apply
for the five year visa anyway although she made me write a declaration saying
that if the visa is not given I will forfeit all of the GBP330 visa fee. She also said that my photo was too blurry so
I had to do another one in their office which was twice the price of everywhere
else. Now I just have to wait and see.
I couldn’t get a train back until
after 7.00pm because on Virgin Trains ‘peak time’ is 3.00 – 7.00pm not 5.00 –
6.30pm like it is on most other lines. I
didn’t get back until 10.30pm and got soaked with rain walking back from the
station.
A babysitting day
Looked after Sam this afternoon
while Emma took Elsie to the doctor.
Turns out it could be some kind of food allergy that is stopping her
sleeping. Emma had been advised to keep
a food diary which she has already started doing.
I really enjoyed being with Sam
who just loves numbers and is very interested in the world around him.
Back to Manchester
Managed to get back to Manchester
after missing the first train. I thought
I had gone far enough along the platform for the train, but when it didn’t
arrive I walked a bit further along only to find another platform and the train
just leaving!
Emma and family had a nice
weekend at Centre Parks although Elsie is still not sleeping well.
The picture is of the café where
we had lunch which is just under where Chris has his new office. There are lots of interesting businesses in
this area including a yoga studio.
A lovely day out
Had a really nice day out with
walks and a lunch out in a very nice pub.
First food I have really enjoyed for some days as with having the cold I
haven’t felt hungry and can’t smell anything.
Really enjoyed seeing Rachael and
driving around in her new car. Its very
small but has all the right technology including a heated windscreen which will
be great in Winter.
My eyes
Went and had my eyes tested today
and need two more pairs of glasses that are very expensive. What with that and the visa fee it’s a good
job I’ve been doing some saving.
During the night I woke up feeling
as if a needle was in my left eye. I
found it was a stye that fortunately burst soon after I got up. Must have got a bug from the eye test place,
or maybe my eyes just got irritated with the lights.
Help came
I ached all over today and have
blocked up nose and ears. I don’t know
how Emma did it as she worked today, but this evening she helped me do my visa
application. Thank goodness that she has
several browsers available to her and one of them worked with the application. She even printed it out for me and I made an
appointment to give it in next Wednesday in London. Have even organized the train for that day.
I feel very relieved that the
first part of the process is finished.
On the beach
This morning we went to Cleveden
beach so that Mary could have a swim.
She walked up to Lady Bay with a group of other people and then swam
back to us. It was a mile or more but
with the current going with them.
The children looked for sea glass
amongst the stones and I enjoyed the messing about with boats that was going on
by members of a local yacht club. It was
quite windy and one person got dangerously near the pier until someone on a
motor boat came and towed him away.
They have some very interesting
changing rooms. They are set into the
arches that go under the road. The gates
have bars and don’t open very far. It
looks as if you are looking at the sea through a prison window!
To Bristol
Went to
Bristol today to see Mary and co. The
picture shows a very unusual picture of Mary and Justin on their own. They are going out on their own tomorrow
night because I am baby sitting.
Apparently it’s the first time since I was here last year and did the
same thing.
Grandchildren
It was Lynn’s day for looking
after the children and Emma’s first day at her new job. The children were quite wary of me as the
picture shows – Elsie much more than Sam.
It was a big day for her as she is used to spending all day with Emma
and this was the first day they had ever spent apart. I felt she was digesting all this.
Felt very, very tired and glad
that I didn’t try and do too much.
A long journey
Got up at 3.30am after a very
restless night and as usual once I got going I felt a bit better. It was a long journey as we were delayed for
two hours or more in Dubai as the reboot on the plane’s computer threw up some
problems which had to be sorted out.
Then there was no one at the airport when I arrived and I had to make a
call on a pay phone (haven’t done that for years) as I didn’t have the new UK
sim card for my phone.
I think door to door the travel
time must have been about 24 hours.
Sunday, 9 July 2017
Insight
Had a wonderful session with Jo
where I at last got some insight about my role in life right now. I realise that its not about ‘what I do’ so
much as ‘how much I bring forth more consciousness and awareness’ and that
means working on a different level. It
was a huge amount to digest and although I have some ideas for pictures to
express these ideas it is going to take some time for them to be clear.
In the meantime I’ve got this
picture of the family having a wonderful time in Spain. I think they are coming back tomorrow, the day
before I arrive.
Jam for the day after tomorrow
Got through another list of
things to be done which included writing a report and going to look at the
Naturellement garden. I also bought the
last of my presents which is jam for my two daughters which in the picture is
all wrapped up in bubble wrap and ready to go. I was hoping to get rosella jam
but there is none left so they will have to make do with guava.
Now I can think about preparing
to travel on Tuesday.
SO tired
Spent the best part of my day
getting my visa. This involved going to
various offices and waiting for various bits of paper like the bank draft to
pay for it all. I had to go once in the
morning to present all the papers and again in the afternoon to pick it up.
I also went to do the session at
Udavi School where the picture comes from.
Despite a slow start we completed our first bed and as the picture
shows, the students worked well together to complete the first bed. I also went to see Auroculture in hospital
who is obviously very uncomfortable but seems to be surviving. I then went and had pizza with friend Appie
who is recovering from a bad back caused by trying to pick up her motorbike
when it fell down.
No wonder I feel tired.
Friday, 7 July 2017
GOT IT!
Went down to the Police station
this morning and finally got the certificate.
Had to go twice because I had forgotten to bring the photos needed for
the certificate.
Heard today that the clearance
for my Exit Visa has come and I can go and get it tomorrow. That led to more running around to get
letters from various offices and photocopies of everything. Have decided that if I don’t get the visa
tomorrow I will postpone my flight.
Very unfortunate
Another runaround today with only
bad feeling to show for it. Went to the
police station and sat around for half an hour or more before I found out I was
never going to get the police clearance certificate because there was no
electricity to print it.
It exasperates me beyond measure
as they only had to say what was going on and it would have saved a lot of time
for them and me. It didn’t help that everyone
was very agitated as they were dealing with a suicide case.
Got this lovely picture of Sam
and Elsie in Spain. Seems that the
holiday is revolving around the pool, the beach and eating and everyone is
enjoying themselves.
Another runaround
Another trip to the police
station and then was asked for a huge amount of photocopying of all the
relevant papers. This is the little shop
up the road where I got it all done.
Was very lucky to have Mahendran
helping me as he is very calm and I am sure smoothed my way with all the
officials. It was his idea to go up the
road to get the photocopying done ‘while the right person was in the office’. I have to go and pick up the clearance
certificate tomorrow.
Monday, 3 July 2017
Runaround
Have had a lot of running around
today all on behalf of my visa. Because
my visa is so old I have to get an exit visa and then a new 5 year visa when I
am in the UK. Just got home from my
first visit to the visa office in Pondicherry in the morning to be told that I
needed to go to the office again to get the police clearance certificate for
the exit visa. So I went to the office
again this afternoon and then the police station.
Naturally the person I wanted to
see at the police station wasn’t there so it will be another trip out tomorrow
afternoon to see him.
African mother
Today I installed my sculpture ‘African
mother’ into the last ring. The two
plants I got from the Botanical Garden shop are desert roses that need hardly
any water and have a lovely flower.
I’m really pleased with how it
looks with the stones. How it blends in
with all the other rings that are planted with various sorts of herbs.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)