Monday 23 November 2015

Online Paralysis


 
 Up till now , renewing my passport has always been fairly routine  .
 But I've just read the new instructions for those , like me , who live abroad ... and apparently it's no use going off to the Consulate any more . Whether it's a cost-cutting exercise or not I don't know , but these days the staff appear to have more important things to do than deal with incompetent old bats trailing in from the provinces to clog up Reception . Even telephone enquiries would appear to be discouraged .
None of this is helped by the fact that this latest passport-photo-to-be makes me look like someone a vampire might reject  . I'll have to elbow my way into my G.P.'s surgery this week and hope he remembers roughly who I am and has a signature to spare ... Perhaps I should ask about my unnatural pallor while I'm there .
I suppose the proponents of online everything 24-7 will say that with a computer/IPhone I wouldn't need to leave my house  . But it's like internet banking or increasingly elaborate remote controls for the television or ...horror ! the new c.d. player ... it's just a complication . I prefer talking to PEOPLE . 
Still , it would appear that when I've finally completed the online application successfully and been granted a new passport , it will be delivered by courier ... and they're still human , aren't they ?  

4 comments:

Liz Hinds said...

I've just ordered a new toothbrush for Nuora - one with Bluetooth so it can be connected to the phone. I'm not even going to try and work out why.

I hope you made sure your photo was ok; they are very fussy - no smiling, no fringes, no sign of intelligence.

SmitoniusAndSonata said...

Don't ! Now I'm going to be puzzling over that toothbrush for days .
As for the photo ... it definitely qualifies .

Lucille said...

Now you must make sure your signature doesn't display a flamboyant or extravagant character. No room for loops, twirls or flourishes. That box is tiny and only fit for someone with a very short name.

rachel said...

The Gardener's passport application was a nightmare; we both tried. It took us three attempts to fill in that terrible form with its tiny boxes, as each time, one letter would stray over the line. And then the professional who signed it for us, a lovely man with enormous patience, managed to do it flawlessly - until the signature box. Fourth attempt, and it was done, but the air was blue.