Nightmare on Passport Street
It was another day in passport pergatory today. I had to have my passport photos redone as expected. There was a small shadow on my left cheek, and I wasn't looking directly into the camera, I guess, so they were rejected. Now I understand why people attempt to make their own passports. That was a joke, but not really because you see, when the passport photos are completed incorrectly, it creates a whole domino effect and to make a long story short, one just has to start from scratch again. Everything has to be resigned by an appropriate person and one just prays that said appropriate person, isn't on vacation, hasn't died suddenly, skipped the country or whatever, when you need him to sign again.
So, I decided to increase the chances of my photos being accepted by going to a place where they have had some experience adhering to the strict, borderline ridiculous guidelines for doing Canadian passport photos, so hopefully these ones will be acceptable. The guy seemed to know what he was doing. He told me not to smile, get my hair out of my eyes, look straight at the camera, don't look angry, (a difficult request, as I am angry every time I do this bloody passport renewal.) Last, but not least he said don't cut the photos out, just leave them attached. Yes, all these things I knew because I'd already made most of these mistakes before and consequently I was rejected for it. Great, the result was a nice mug shot, not quite as mug shotty as the last ones but hopefully hideous enough to be accepted. So, all of this wealth of knowledge and my photos cost me a whopping 80 Dkr. Not too shabby and I happened to have the exact change.
Then, I left and thought about stopping by my employer's office because I hadn't seen them face to face for awhile but decided against it. Another day I thought, even though the photo boutique was quite close to where my employer's headquarters are located. I stopped at a red light only to be stopped by someone collecting for something or other. It was a guy collecting for UNICEF and to be honest, I don't really give to any charities on an ongoing basis and this would mean helping the kids with medicine, schooling etc. monthly, so I signed up. I gave the guy my bank account information etc. He seemed like a trustworthy sort and I generally follow my instincts. We'll find out if my intuition was correct if my bank account is pillaged and left for not! Huh, I'm sure it will be fine.
Good enough, still on my merry way, my quick stride was abruptly interrupted by someone asking if they could borrow my mobile phone. Well, the battery was and is dead on my phone so I couldn't have lent it to them if I had wanted to but,I don't know how much I wanted to really. It would depend on the situation, I guess.
Okay now I could catch the train but I had to wait for fifteen minutes or so. Then I was approached by someone asking for some spare change? These sorts of collection, borrowing activities don't really happen that much around here, especially three times in a row, in a timeframe of an hour. So, anyhow I didn't have any change as I had just used all of it to pay for my photos. So, I said, "Sorry, I don't have any." Then he proceeded to get pushy about it. Well, needless to say he got nothing but the cold shoulder. A little bit of advice to Mr. Spare Change, "you attract more bees with honey than with vinegar." Wise words that I'm trying to heed myself while going through these trying, passport renewal times.
