A year of blogging!

Exactly a year ago today I wrote my first blog entry. It doesn't feel that long, somehow. Then again, it's hard to imagine life before blogging. It's been quite a year, one way and another.

To celebrate this, and Spring, I've uploaded a new banner photo which is some of next-door's almond blossom. I might even try to change the photo more often now I've finally figured out how to do it without Dan's help.

For those who have asked: there's no news on our UK house sale at present. We hope that if there were any last-minute problems, we would have heard by now...

As for the Cyprus house, the first stage is now done. We saw our solicitor this morning; he's paid the stamp duty for us, and the contract is now officially stamped. We can now use that to apply for permanent residency of Cyprus. We will also need it when we ask the utility companies to connect us to electricity, water and the phone, but of course that won't be until we're ready to move in.

We've also been given more forms to fill in: these are headed:

'Application by an alien for the consent of the council of ministers to acquire immoval property in Cyprus.'

Hmm. Sounds like ET wanting to buy a house!

It also looks like it's out-of-date too since it shouldn't apply to European citizens any longer, and some of the questions relate to property being used for commercial purposes rather than simply buying a home to live in. To go with this application, we need to supply copies of our passports, UK bank statements for the past three months, all the information about the house we're planning to buy, CVs (something else more relevant to buying a business, but never mind...) and other such documents.

Apparently this questionnaire is routine, a bit pointless, and never refused. However it can take up to three months to be granted. We can't complete the purchase until this permission has been given, and we're supposed to complete by the end of June at the latest.