French Connections

WINDOW SHOPPING FOR A FAMILY CHATEAU IS ON KERRE’S HOLIDAY AGENDA

It all started last year when our blended, extended and mended family had gathered together in Canterbury to farewell Kate and baby Bart. Kate had been back in New Zealand to organise a visa so that Bart could re-enter Britain.

This was supposed to be their last weekend in the country, and Tom and I had travelled to North Canterbury to stay with her dad and other mother on their farm and have one last weekend together as a family. In the end, Kate and Bart ended up staying another three weeks. The visa hadn’t been issued because of some bureaucratic technicality and rather than reapply, Kate had decided to chance it and try her luck at the border. Over our last supper on the Saturday night, she confessed that she and her husband had been warned twice by British immigration officials that unless Bart had the appropriate paperwork they wouldn’t be able to re-enter the country.