DrNBC, I have enjoyed and valued your contributions in NG.
Your last note here seems to give a glimpse into the feeling of betrayal and loss of optimism that you once had. Its painful. I am not as far in the process (have ARI, invested in funds in 2021, and bought an apartment in Braga but still live in the US), and am also mightily frustrated.
At 63, I had hoped for an easier time before I could enjoy carrying a PT passport. But, really, for us the primary beneficiary of this journey would be our now-24 kiddo for whom we wanted to provide the benefit of geographic and political diversification. I hope that we still can.
We, too, entered this journey hoping for an alternate life/location. I expected some bumps and delays, and not to this degree.
You mention friends. A house. Neighbors. Each of those is worth more than the idiots playing for their audience. I still longingly gaze at idealista listings for what i hope to be my final place.
Please don’t let some chuckleheads in Parliament with short sighted politically motivated moves kill off your vision. There are still cards yet to play out. lets see what occurs.
I recall a saying:
The Western man: “Dont just sit there, DO SOMETHING”
The Eastern man: “Dont just do something, sit there”
I hope to have the composure to sit watch a while longer, attentively and awarely, but let the process work a bit longer and let the corrections that will likely come, come. While this is faux latin, it fits now: “Illegitimi non carborundum” (colloquially, “dont let the bastards grind you down.”