:o( no europe...for now

The trip to Prague and Budapest that Cat, Jo & I have been planning since March has become non-existant for me, much to my dissapointment!! I'm hoping to get some money back for my flight tickets, and the hostels have been good enough not to charge me, now I just need to pawn off my Ozora Festival ticket and hopefully my rail ticket can be refunded.

I had to send my passport off to Immigration in order to get a Certificate of Approval to get married, and was informed only yesterday that it was in 'waiting' and they could not tell me how long it was going to be before I recieve it. They couldn't tell me that before I took the 10 hour bus trip to London on Thursday... So I went to say a teary goodbye to Cat & Jo at Victoria Station, on their way to Gatwick, and tomorrow I take a trip back to beautiful Falmouth to be with my fiance(who I'm missing madly) and to get my work situation sorted. So it's not all negative!!

My trip to the midlands to meet Stevens family and friends was really cool. I got on very well with them all, and had a really fun time. Stevens mom & I spent a day in Birmingham together, shopping and got on like a house on fire. His twin sister, Donna, was so much fun too and we spent an evening out on Nuneaton together. His friends are great and I'm hoping to get to know them better when they come visit us in Cornwall! My farewell meeting in London was awesome too. Thanks to all of you who joined(especially Bryony for driving so far on her own!!!), and I am sorry that I didn't get to chat a lot to you all individually. All the more reason for you to come visit... ;-)

Once I have recieved my Certificate of Approval from Immigration(which can happen between 20 and 70 days...of which about 17 have passed), Steven & I will be able to go and book a wedding date. We have to get married in the district in which we live, or the closest one, since their are only 76 register offices/churches/hotels countrywide which are approved of by Immigration Home Office. So once we have a date, our names are put up for objections for 15 days, then you all get invites to come and join us in Cornwall. I have just discovered that the Register Office in Falmouth is one of the 76...woohoo!!! Hopefully the good weather will hold up for a while longer, then we could go have champagne on the beach or something after our marriage in the Register office! My dream has always been to have a simple wedding, barefoot on the beach...so can we all participate in a sun dance & anticipate sunshine well into September?!?!

Once we are married, I am getting the help of Global Visa's to apply for my Settlement Visa. It all seems pretty straight forward, but I'd rather get help than make a boo boo.

Steven and I have moved into a room in a shared house, which is fine for visa purposes as long as we have a lease agreement in both of our names. It's a lovely 3 story house and we're living with the 2 boys who own it. We share the top and bottom floor with a chef and a graffic designer and the middle floor is Ashley & David's (the owners). They've done the house up really nicely. It's modern and earthy and really comfortable. The guys in the house are really cool, though nobody really socialises together, which is fine for now really! Steven & I only signed a 3 month contract and will probably start looking for a place of our own, since it's going to cost about the same.

I bought a car (got a really good deal on a 1994 Renault Laguna), so that I can get a domicialary care job. Steven is doing care work already and I've joined the same agency where we get to go to scheduled clients to help them get up, or go to bed, or wash or toilet, or feed, or whatever they need done really. I am just waiting for my criminal record check to go through (which is standard procedure) before i start work. I also have one 24 hour shift a week taking care of a girl with a brain injury. I'm looking forward to the new challenge!!

It is lovely here and we are both enjoying the outdoor life...so different to London. It's pretty quiet and there's lots of lovely coastal walks, surfing, Scuba and snorkelling, and i'm thoroughly enjoying the wind-down after busy city life as well as feeling fit and healthy again. We are starting a yoga class next month, and are enjoying being able to take a short drives to explore other parts of the exquisite cornish coastline, villages, farmlands, fields and forests. Steven has been my inspiration and I feel truly alive again...body, mind and soul!

Falmouth is pretty backward in ways...and we like it like that. There's one internet cafe, which charges the earth and the computers are really cr*ppy. There's no H&M or HMV or any other major chainstores, besides a small New Look and a metro Tesco's, but there are loads of little surf shops, trinkety incensy shops, cheap second hand cd stores, and interesting little book stores. The towns streets are cobbled and tiny, and the views everywhere are absolutely breath taking. Sometimes i need to pinch myself to believe that I live in such beautiful place. The best part is that I could fearlessly walk on the beach alone at night, or all along the coastal path, if I wanted to!

The nightlife is basically non-existant. Although 'Remedies' stays open till the early hours on the weekend but seems rather studenty. And there is a second disco which is open all night but was basically empty when we popped in there 2 weeks ago. But Newquay is a 35 minute drive/bus trip away...and it has plenty of clubs! I personally prefer to have a bbq and a couple of beers with a few friends on the beach!

After all that advertising, I'm hoping that all of you are gonna pack your bags and come live by me!! We can build an eco-village of our own and grow our own veggies!! We can go surfing, snorkelling, swimming, walking. We can have yoga classes, drum circles and dance with the fairies. OK! I'm getting carried away.

Hoping you are all so well and will be able to make it to my wedding!

Lots of fairy love and COME VISIT!!
Shazzie Pooh xoxoxo