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16 days to go!
It's been a long time since I last wrote on this. I've just be so busy!
As predicted, although we have been quite organised with booking things in advance, there have been a number of last minute hiccups.
We've had a bit of a difficult time sorting out our India visa. For those of you who are thinking of visiting India, you need to be aware of a few things or else you'll lose money (like we did). Mid November we sent off my visa application to a company called VFS Global. The Indian embassy tells you that you need to use this company as the embassy does not deal with visas directly. Anyway, you can apply for either a 6 month visa or a year visa. Since we are leaving India on 21st June, we applied for a year visa because the visa is activated as soon as it is issued. So we sent off our passports and documents and paid the fees. After 3 weeks we got our visas back and they were only 6 month visas and so wouldn't cover our stay. I contacted the company and they said there was nothing they could do as they didn't decide the length of the visas issued. I have since found out that although they advertise 1 year visas for everyone, they are in fact only issued if the applicant is of Indian descent. Ultimately we had been issued useless visas. We have since gone through another company (visasupermarket.com) who have assured us that they can get visas to cover us and so hopefully we will get the correct visas back before we leave. Fingers crossed!
In addition to this, I've had issues with British Gas (as my work colleagues are only too aware!), a burst pipe, dealing with all the things that a required when letting out my home and lots more.
Anyway, enough of my woes and worries.
Yesterday was a very emotional day as it was my last day at Rosetta for a year. The assembly was lovely and many kind words were said. I got a load of chocolate (since I'm a chocolic) and a personalised Blackpool shirt that I'll be able to take with me while travelling. Perfect! Some of my favourite songs were played and the children even did a dance to Gold. Although I was happy that I'd marked my last book for a year, I was incredibly sad with all the goodbyes to the children and staff. The last 3 years have flown by, although I feel I've made many friends for life. So many memories, so many good times, it was so sad to say goodbye. I will be back!
As I'm writing this I'm on the train with my parents going up to Blackpool for Christmas. Pretty much everything that has to be done, has been done. The tenant will be moving into my flat today (hopefully with a smile). I'll probably pop over to the Trafford Centre at some point to get some last minute travelling essentials, but apart from that I can now relax and enjoy Christmas and New Year.
Merry Christmas everyone!
D
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