04.36 pm
Oh boy, what a morning! We stuffed around this morning because we really didn’t have enough time to do anything constructive (like play WoW!) so Julian “surfed” and I played Solitaire, and we finally headed off to The Glen Post Office and our appointment with the Post Master, at about 10.30 this morning. The appointment was for 11 o’clock, but we didn’t want to risk being late if we got stuck in traffic, or whatever, so we got there early, and sort-of mooched around – again not really doing anything constructive with our time – until almost 11 o’clock when we finally got to stand in front of the Post Master – er Post Mistress… I mean Post Person! Sorry! *sigh* And then… innit always the way? One part of the form didn’t appear to have been filled in correctly… You know, “things” – forms and so forth, like, f’rinstance, a Passport application – shouldn’t be too hard for a moderately intelligent adult to figure out what was needed where, and to fill it in correctly, wouldn’t you say? Well, maybe it was because it was one of those of badly worded and only sketchily explained pieces of “Officialdom” (in other words, your usual Government form, designed from the outset to be misleading, obtuse, and mostly irrelevant) but Julian – whose brain is probably somewhat over endowed with intelligence cells – had been pouring over these wretched Passport application forms for a couple of weeks – even ringing the relevant department up to clear up a couple of points… [pause] I’m applying for a new-slash-replacement Passport because I’ve changed my name legally by Deed Poll, and I’ve been issued with a new Birth Certificate, where the name is similar to, but different from, my name on my old Birth Certificate and Passport. One side of the new Birth Certificate is exactly the same as my old Birth Certificate, except for the “Christian Name field”, which has had an extra name (Winter) added – in front of my two old Christian names, so that part now reads: “Winter Cxxxx Lxxxx”, then the next line down is my Maiden Surname, “Bxxxxx”. Simple and very straightforward so far, right? The rest of that side of the document is, as I said, a complete clone of my original Birth Certificate. On the other side of the document, however, is a “Provenance”, or a sort of a time line (or perhaps more of a fact line?) tracing the particulars and dates relevant to my name and its changes. One part of the form that we had to fill in for the Passport application asked for the “name on the birth certificate” – but… which one? The name on side one – the one with my new Christian names on one line, and my Surname on the next line down – or the name on side two, the one tracing the relevant particulars and dates? Julian rang up, and was instructed to use the first one (I think! Even I was starting to get a bit confused there!) However, according to the Post Person, it should have been the other way around. She pointed at this, and that, and something else, explaining to us why this was so, but when Julian explained that he’d only done what he was told to by the Passport People, she wasn’t very happy about that, but was at least accommodating enough to go off and ring her particular Passport Person for advice, as well as the one Julian had rung. She came back about five minutes later, saying that apparently it didn’t matter – it could be either – which was a big relief to us, I can tell you! We were almost at the end of the interview when she got to the (totally hideous and vile!) Passport photo of yours truly (shudder) when we were told that there was the potential for another problem! Apparently the person “of good repute” who witnesses your signature on the application form, and who vouches for your good character, is supposed to sign the back of one of two photographs, and affix it, face down and signature up, next to the horrible (and usually totally unrepresentative of your features) photograph that will go into your Passport. We had our Solicitor sign the photos, stamp the application form, and verify that she’d known us for “X” years – and all that was fine and dandy… with just one, tiny possibility of having to have the photo part re-done! You’re asked to fill the form in using a “black pen”, and of course all the signatures had to be in this “black pen” too – so when we went along to have A. sign and stamp the form, Julian obligingly took along the “black pen” that he’d used all the way through the form, and she used that. She also signed the back of both photographs – which according to the Post Person, occasionally (because it’s black ink, as they requested!) the signature shows through the “face up” photo, making it impossible for the Passport People to use their normal “facial recognition” processes. This is probably why they provide the space for a second photograph to be affixed, face down and with the signature uppermost! Duh! Then again, the Post Person told us, they might say it’s fine and I’ll just get my new Passport through the mail in two to three weeks – otherwise we’ll have to do the whole photograph thing all over again! Or maybe all of the whole damn thing over again – she didn’t specify! What I want to know is – and as it’s a special form for “Change of Name” applications, it would be a damned good idea if they did do this – specify whether they want the information on the back of the new Birth Certificate (the Provenance, or time-fact-line information) or the information from the side that looks like a “normal” Birth Certificate! Why is that too hard to include on their ruddy application form?! It would be helpful too, if on all Passport application forms, not just the replacement or Change of Name application forms, they had a note next to the photo area, requesting that the photo that was to be shown “face up” was not written on!
Or am I just being picky?!
We did a bit of shopping up at The Glen – we bought a new salt grinder for the dining room table, I bought three gi-normous “brown” Nashi pears at the Asian greengrocer’s there in the fresh food court – I don’t think they’re fully ripe yet through, because they’re not really very “brown”, and I bought some more bamboo socks at the Aussie Disposals store, as that’s what I wear on my feet when I’m treadmilling – two pairs on each foot, and I still get blisters and blood blisters on my toes! 
We were just about to head for home and a muchly needed cup of coffee, when I spotted a Baker’s Delight! Knowing that we’d finished off the last of the Sourdough bread that we’d had on Sunday, I dragged Julian over to buy an un-sliced “Seeded Sourdough” loaf with which to make our lunch today! We’d sampled some the other day up at Vermont South, and it was just sooo delicious, that I just had to get some! Then we came home, had our coffee, and I had an hour and a half left to play WoW before I had to start writing this!
So having filled you in on today’s doin’s, I can now proceed along to the “good” bits! 😉
Food stuffs. Last night for dinner we had the second of our four Lamb and Harissa with Feta & Oregano left-over meals, which as always was really yummy and delicious! 🙂 For dessert I had a Corella pear, which between you, me, and the gatepost, was a little… tasteless and “floury” – but it was one of the older Corellas in the bowl, so hopefully the rest of them will be a lot better! I also had one of the Vaalia Lemon Creme yoghurts, and really, you know I think I’m starting to like them as much as I really, really liked the Coles Rice Pudding, which now no longer exists! 😥 For lunch today we had ham, Swiss cheese, chopped lettuce, and a little bit of the Beerenberg Hot Tomato Chutney in a Seeded Sourdough sandwich – and honestly, that Seeded Sourdough has to be The. Best. Bread. EVER! Tonight we’re having sausages done on (in? on? *shrug*) the Grill, as they worked so well there the last time we had them – they’re the same type of sausages, too – the ones with the Bush pepper and Shiraz wine in them, from memory, with our usual half a tomato, chips, and some steamed green beans. For dessert tonight I’ll be having one of my last two apples, because I don’t think the so-called “brown” Nashi pears are ripe enough to eat yet, and I’ll have an Apple Le Rice as well.
Weigh-in this morning. Was amazing! I was expecting to be up over the 66 kg mark this morning, so you can imagine my utter astonishment when I looked down at the scale readout, and saw that it was…. wait for it! Drum roll, please…. 65.2 kg! Down 7 whole points! As I keep saying – there’s just no rhyme nor reason for the way my weight fluctuates like that! However, I’m not complaining! 🙂 Mind you, this is me we’re talking about, and I reckon that it’ll be up there again in the high 65 kg zone again tomorrow! (Winter shakes her head sadly) Sometimes there’s just no pleasing this body of mine…
And that brings me round full circle again! Flipper doesn’t seem to want her dinner tonight, which is rather disturbing, but Auric and Dapple seem to be well enough – and as we don’t seem to have anything that we can remember on tomorrow, Julian and I will take the opportunity to play a little WoW with Wynterthyme and Demelza, which should be a lot of fun, and which we’re both looking forward to! And once again, gentle readers, that’s about “it” from me for tonight! Do call in again tomorrow night to find out if my weight did bounce back up again, if we did get to play with Wynterthyme and Demelza, and how we went with them, and if Flipper is eating properly or not… but until then, please try to bee good, remember that education is not preparation for life; education is life itself, and don’t forget to keep warm and dry in this rather inclement weather, to look after yourselves, and to always drive carefully… but most importantly, please… don’t forget to stay safe! 🙂 ciao, all! 🙂
My Word! 