With our next Greek Odyssey all booked back in the summer of 2022, and our Co-Op travel insurance also in the can, the next logical step was to double check our passports, which were all found to have a mere six months left on the clock. Time to renew, but who would have thought that said relatively simple bureaucratic task would turn out to be quite such a traumatic experience for poor Darrell.
We decided, for the first time to embrace technology and apply for our new passports online and take the required photos ourselves. Big, big mistake, as it quickly became apparent that the photo verification on the GOV.UK website was not only unforgiving but also very exacting.
At first both Nigel and my pictures came out as “fair”, but after a couple more tries they finally got the all clear “good”, which meant that we could then move on to complete our applications.
But poor Darrell, with his exacting personal standards of appearance, started off in the “poor” department, followed by goodness only knows many attempts in “fair”, desperately trying to “up” himself to “good” …… before eventually hitting the spot, by which time he was, to be honest, beyond tears, leaving me, ably assisted by Nigel, to finish the rest of his application, while he went to lie down in a darkened room for several hours until he felt ready to face the world again.
Next time, he declared wearily, we’ll simply all trot off to the booth in the Post Office and send off whichever is our best photo, without fear of judgement! He’s really taken his afternoon of constant “rejection” very, very much to heart and personally. What is he like?
3 comments:
Oh my, oh my - I shouldn't giggle at Darrell's misfortune, but it's difficult being a sensitive soul in a demanding world - but this blog post is so very funny! JantheFan x
My comment hasn't appeared. I will wait and see if it appears out of the aether.
Well, my original comment still hasn't appeared, so here goes.
Poor Darrell. I'm sure that he was perfectly spruced up for the photo, too.
Mrs. D helped me with my photo, and it was good at the first take. I suspect the passport office computer isn't used to monkey business. Needing my new passport from Mexico, I didn't have the option of going to a photo booth and then to the Post Office. I did it online and a friend took it back to the UK and popped it in the post. It took a fair while to come back, but you will be fine, for your Homer's Odyssey. I mean Summer Odyssey. There are websites that tell you how long it will take, too.
The original passport was sent back under separate cover, and it took over a month longer, so don't panic.
Post a Comment