So Farewell Then Brexit Britain

Why had the blog posts dried up? What was occupying so much of my time that it had to take precedence over all else? What was so important that it involved travel, meetings, form filling, lawyers, notaries, estate agents, removal firms, energy suppliers and engineers, a lot of visits from online furniture and electrical goods outlets, and lots of hotel stays?

Pinhal Novo - the bandstand ...

Well, as you will see from my Twitter bio (X or no X, that is the question), the short answer is that I have left the UK, and almost certainly for good. A country that is slowly, but perhaps irretrievably, on its way down the pan and into international irrelevance, the result of bad faith actors who thought Brexit was just a jolly game. So last year I decided to go. To Portugal.

Along the way there have been meetings with the folks who progress residence permits, which took me to Edinburgh in February and then a follow-up interview in June at the Serviço de Estrangeiros e Fronteiras in the town of Viana do Castelo (the thought occurred that this was more an initiative test, as most Brits wouldn’t know where it was, or how to get there).

There was a lawyer providing a proxy so I could obtain a NIF (you can’t do much in Portugal without a NIF, folks), an estate agency person who accompanied me to the bank to get an account, a notary who oversaw the purchase of an apartment, an engineer who reconnected the gas supply (don’t ask), and a removal firm to take stuff from Crewe to Pinhal Novo.

Where that? Pinhal Novo, which literally translates as “New Pine Forest”, is on the south side of the Tejo. Like Crewe, you can get to lots of other places from there. Lisbon is half an hour to 40 minutes away by rail or express bus. It is a low rise town and growing at some rate (if you arrive by rail on the Fertagus service, the first signs of Pinhal Novo are the cranes).

... and nearby church

So will the blog continue? For now, yes, but not for ever. Will I be writing about the fun and games involved in moving from the UK to Portugal? A strong possibility. Will there be some stuff on the country’s politics? Could be, especially given the tendency of bad faith UK politicians, like former Brexit Party Oberscheissenführer Nigel “Thirsty” Farage, to lie about them.

Do they have inflation in Portugal? Yes, but it’s on its way down, with food inflation now below the all-important 10%? Do they have strikes? Ho yus. Do they have The Fash? Yes, a bad Trump tribute act headed by a gobshite called André Ventura. He’s got a twitchy right arm and an acute sense of victimhood. But they also have influence. Because they’re in the EU.

Why make the announcement now? Simples. Today I got my hands on a residence permit, from those nice people at the SEF in Viana do Castelo, an increasingly popular tourism destination which closes on Sundays (this is not so much of an exaggeration). That makes it official. So it’s hello to warmer and drier weather (no rain for a month and a half). And farewell to Crewe.

There may be visits to the UK. But it is no longer home. I’m aware that this can be a lose-lose in the eyes of paranoid Brexiteers: on the one hand, you are told “If you don’t like it, why don’t you go”, and when you take the advice and go, they bawl “TRAITAH” in your general direction. Well, up theirs.

So, finally, farewell, and thanks for all the fish. I may be celebrating later.

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