Wednesday, December 20, 2006

PASSPORTS

Over the past six months, both my children have had to renew their passports. My son's went through without a hitch; my daughter had to have three lots of photos taken before the last lot were accepted, despite going to an accredited photographer and him measuring the distance between the top of her head and the top of the photo etc. etc. etc. At €20 a kick, this starts to be an expensive business for four awful photos that are refused. Fortunately there was no panic for the passport.

Reading the Telegraph on-line this morning, I noticed the article "Murder suspect fled under Muslim veil" which refers to the man wanted for questioning in the WPc Sharon Beshenivsky murder. He apparently stole his sister's passport and heavily veiled, he flew to Somalia.

I have no wish to get into a discussion on the pros and cons of Muslims wearing veils, but I am annoyed that we are put through a flaming hoop to have a photograph taken that is agreeable to the Passport Office - no hats, no glasses, no smile, no hair hanging over the forehead and yet this is not international.

I received the attached photo the other week from someone - the title was "Pointless family photo of the year"!!



I'll run the risk of having a fatwah taken out on me, you can all blog as 'mice' if this post worries you!

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now all say "fermented camel's milk"

Anonymous said...

"Don't worry ladies. I'll correct for the red-eye later"

Sarah said...

I suppose they distinguish who's who by height...

Sarah said...

...or maybe that should be height, width and breadth...

Louise said...

... or by their shoes?

Anonymous said...

You're not into fatwa territory yet Louise. Maybe a thinwa.

Louise said...

You're probably right Mustapha, but one has to be a little careful these days! And it's true, it would never be a fatwa, as I am as skinny as a rake!

Colin Randall said...

Carrying over the discussion from an earlier post, I should offer one bit of reassurance and one health tip.
I am not Colin Berry and have never been anonymous on this or any other blog (though I do admit to having used an alias once on one of those hideous American bash-the-French websites, for a good reason that would be boring to relate here).
Health tip? Louise's readers must continue to take good care of their ears and sanity by avoiding contact with my musical efforts. Ignore Bill. I have never been even a passably good folk singer/musician. Far, far worse is that this did not stop me trying.

Bill Taylor said...

Colin Randall is, as always, far too modest. I shall not soon forget his renditions of a lovely song called "Slightly Faded" or yet his occasional impersonation of a woman of our acquaintance, who fancied herself talented, singing "Needle of Death."

Anonymous said...

Five wives look on while their lord and master takes picture of himself.

Bill Taylor said...

Louise: As I tried to extricate myself from that disgusting and protracted brawl that Colin Berry and his nameless acolytes started, I forget to wish you the compliments of the season. Have a very merry Christmas, a healthy, happy and prosperous 2007 and let's hope Chocolate & Cuckoos continues to rack up triple-digit posts!

Louise said...

And a very Happy Christmas to you and your wife, Bill (and the three cats!) and I hope you have a lovely time in Rome over New Year. I have family who are meant to be going to France for Christmas, leaving early Saturday morning - wonder if they will make it?

Roads said...

Joyeux Noël à tous
(as we say, sarf of the river) ...

et bonnes fêtes, Louise, en la belle suisse !

Anonymous said...

Has anyone noticed that since colinb sodded off to UK (if his plane could land in the fog) all the anoymous comments but this one have dried up?

richard of orléans said...

Talking of fog, nice quote in the Figaro. Yes sometimes the French do get their own back. 'Une fois de plus, le "fog", véritable "purée de pois" dont la Grande-Bretagne est coutumière, vient gâcher les projets des habitants de l'île.' Quel domage!!

Bill Taylor said...

Louise: Re our conversation a few days ago about books and where on-line to buy them, I had my first experience this week with amazon.fr -- buying Paris imprévu : Curiosités de la rue parisienne, a fabulous collection of pictures taken over the decades on the streets of Paris, put together by Jean-Louis Celati -- and I'm impressed so far. Every time my order progresses a little, they e-mail me to tell me. This is more than amazon.ca, .com or .co.uk ever do.

Louise said...

Yes, Bill, their tracking is very good but when nothing happens, you have nothing to track! Once my order was eventually put together, I could (if I wanted) track my packet during its three days of being moved from one place to another before ending up in my letter box but for four weeks nothing happened.

My problem I think was that in my order was 'The God of Small Things' by Arundhati Roy which I read when it was first published, and then lent to someone and of course never saw it again. The copy I received is American - so I think they had to send the book from the U.S. to some central depot in Europe and then make up the rest of the order...

I am getting along with Jonathan Littell's book 'Les Bienveillantes' which should keep me going into the New Year - 900 pages of very intense writing; I have passed the 200 page marker! Once finished, I might 'review' it but difficult to do so in a blog - so far I would say that for those of you out there that read in French, buy it! It won't be out in English for at least another year I would imagine as it is going to be tough to translate. Unless Littell translates it himself, which would be the best solution.

angela said...

Wishing you a very happy Christmas,
Angela