The Next Step

A couple of years ago, I heard that it may be possible to live overseas and still draw disability. If this is the case, I am hying myself to England or Wales as quickly as I possibly can. Of course, I'm taking Aunt Tudi with me and will have to wait the six months to quarantine the beasties. Ideally, I'd like to live in the West Country because it's the most inspirational for me. Avebury, Swindon, some village near Stonehenge. Anywhere. I'm not picky, as long as it's the UK. Rhyl, Cymru would be cool too. The mythical land of Rhylla, the land of the Tarmi, comes from Rhyl.

I've already written the Federal Benefits Unit in London to get information regarding this. If this turns out to my favour, my status as an expatriate will be official as soon as humanly possible. What a dream come true it would be to go back home to the UK, be amongst friends, and find in the countryside my true heart.

Mother Grove Goddess Temple

For some reason, I have been deeply blessed by being invited to become a part of Mother Grove Goddess Temple in Asheville, NC. I'm sure it's the doing of Asheville's Village Witch. I wrote them back and said:

I would be honoured and blessed to attend this Circle. It may be a while before I can attend, though, as I am unable to afford to travel, even as close as Asheville. Once this has changed, however, please be assured that I will be an active participant, being a Witch and native of Asheville, NC, which I hold very dear to my heart.

As soon as my fundage arrives, I'm once more becoming an active member of the Pagan community, this time in a place I call home, other than the UK. I'm sure Aunt Tudi will also become a part of it as well, especially since she was Croned quite a few years back.

Actually, I'm in tears for having been so honoured. To be wrapped once more in the loving arms of the Goddess, this time in the sacred mountains of Asheville, North Carolina is about more than I can bear.

Uhm...SQUEE??

From Receiving Social Security Payments While Living Abroad.

The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank of New York and several central banks around the world have agreed to provide an international direct deposit service. This service allows the transfer and conversion of U.S. social security benefits to a foreign bank free of the various charges; the Social Security Administration picks up the tab. The countries that currently participate in this international direct deposit service (also called electronic benefit transfer) are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Also, this good news from theafaye regarding muh beasties.

Look into the vaccine issues for your animals because you might not need to quarantine them. Although I didn't bring my cat over, he did have his rabies shots and basically what you do is give them two rabies jabs (to make sure the antibodies are high enough) and then five weeks later have a blood test done to show that they have enough anti rabies antibodies (you might get away with just one jab but you might not and if you don't get them high enough you have to have a second jab so it's more expensive to take the gamble). Six months after that blood test they can travel with no quarantine and a pet passport. It might be different from the States, but it's worth checking because they're always changing the law and if you can avoid quarantine for your animals, all the better.

And it'd be great to have you as a neighbour. :)

WTF?

I got a call from my social worker today. It looks as though I own two pieces of land, 105B Pauls Drive and 101 Pauls Drive. 101 Pauls Drive doesn't even exist, but the assessor's office has me down as the owner of the non-existent lot. Tomorrow, I have to go down to the Spartanburg County Assessor's Office and get a written statement to take to my social worker, affirming the fact that I do indeed only own the one lot and that I am not being dishonest about my ownership of property. This is probably the reason why I haven't gotten my retroactive pay yet, because there's confusion on the part of Spartanburg County, dumb fuckers. Once I get this straightened out, things should hopefully go rather quickly as far as my retro pay. At least, that's the hope.

But DAMN! Why can't anything come easily? 101 Pauls Drive doesn't even bloody exist, for fuck's sake!