Wedding Plans - update

Well it will be no surprise to most of you that the Brits are just as beaurocratic as the rest. The paperwork promised in 21 days in now a week overdue.

On Friday I called the Consulate in Alicante (again) and they said that the delay was due to Easter - that means two days public holiday puts everything behind by 5 days. I asked if I could do anything to chase up this stuff and they gave me a number in the UK which I called - the Legalisation Office. They said they had nothing under our names, but that the documents could have been filed under the name of the person who signed the letter at Alicante Consulate. So, back to the Consulate... I called and explained what they had said in the UK and she promised to check and get back to me. This was 10.00am on Friday morning. By midday I was sweating because I know the Consulate shuts at 1.30 and I'd be stewing the whole weekend if I didn't get an explanation.

At 12.15 I got a call back to say that the documents were in the UK; they had been translated and were being posted that day and with luck should be in Alicante by... Wednesday. That was when I freaked out because we plan to return to the UK for a month ... you guessed it ... on Wednesday morning.

Just a quick recap - before we go back to the UK we've got to collect the documents from Alicante, take them back to Formentera (hopefully they won't find anything wrong with them) and then they go off to the local courts for approval. This process doesn't sound too bad, but for the Formentera Ayuntamiento visit we need our translator (I have some Spanish, but it's not good enough to follow a rapid discussion) and two witnesses and these three people need to be notified they day before they are needed.

Back to the Alicante Consulate bit...

I asked them if the documents could be couriered. They said I'd have to call the Legalisaton Office to find out, which I did. They said I could do this but I'd have to arrange it. By this time it was 1pm. So I hit the web and made some calls. UPS could do it for Monday midday delivery, so I paid my money and I've now got my fingers crossed that they'll live up to their promises.

So, today (Monday) we'll be tracking our parcel and hopefully dashing off to Alicante to collect these documents.

I have a feeling of impending doom and I'm now thinking I'll have to send my OH back to the UK on his own and I'll have to stay here to cut through the red tape.

So I'm sharing this with you at the crack of dawn because, surprise, surprise, I can't sleep.