I have spent the last month intensively preparing the material required for my Portuguese visa application. Beyond ridiculous, would be an understatement. Not just bureaucracy on steroids, but no single definitive source of information, conflicting views on many issues and utter dysfunction regards online processes. Several times over, it took me a whole day to complete a single form, having to use the chat facility at every step, to solve technical issues and ambiguities. Guarding my personal data over the last few years has gone by the wayside. This has been nothing short of full disclosure.
This week, I am bracing myself for a trip to London to submit the documentation. I am not looking forward to it. I spent 20 years in London in the early part of my professional career and, while it was exciting at the time, it wasn’t my natural habitat. When I left in 2004, I was done with the city. I didn’t intend to return, not even for a single day. I much prefer the countryside, relative peace and quiet, and far fewer people.
So, keeping my focus firmly fixed on beautiful rural Portugal, I have been taking things a day at a time to avoid getting stressed (though there have been a few moments), inching my way forwards through the tedium. And it’s not just me. Everyone I know who is dealing with any form of system, whether it's getting an elderly parent into a home, renewing documents such as a passport, opening a bank account or dealing with an insurance claim, is faced with the same turgid bureaucracy. The system appears, by design, to be doing its best to stop all but the doggedly determined, from making changes to their lives and the world at large. It slows things down to a crawl, consumes inordinate amounts of time and energy, and ensures our attention is averted from what really matters in our personal lives and the world at large. I am doing what I have to, so I can embark on a new chapter of my life and a new adventure. The process doesn’t sit well, but I have had to get over this….
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NB. I post short ‘Notes’ on my life and times in between blogs, which can be found in the top navigation of my Substack. More content can be found on my website, including wonderful pictures of my travels in Ireland, also information on my book, ‘The Ultimate Relationship… the one with yourself’. If you like my work, please help me to spread the word. I don't use social media and rely on word of mouth. Thank you.
Best of luck with application.