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Do You Know The Bishop Of Norwich? — 16 Comments

  1. This comment is just so I can tick the ‘inform me of replies to my comment’…not that I am expecting anyone to.

      • Indeed he was…fair made my day did that. BTW Grandad, just by chance noticed that the grey reply/post comment box (in which I am typing now) doesn’t turn white if I follow the ‘respond’ link directly from Gmail ie your url is *headrambles.com/*****post title***/#respond

        • Er.. not quite sure what you mean.  The link I get in my mails is [using your generic mode] *headrambles.com/*****post title***/#comments and not ***/#respond.  I dunno where the latter comes from.  I don’t use Gmail for everyday purposes so short of redirecting everything, I can’t replicate the problem.

          Anyone else seeing the same?

  2. https://s17.postimg.org/a1um9bjwv/respond2.png

    I was trying to replicate what i had done thats’ why the open tabs. However as you can see above, when I returned here to reply to your last comment (if I click on the ‘reply’ under a comment then that’s when the url is ****/#respond) I got the grey filled in comment box not the white again.

  3. Back to passports . . .  I recently had both similar and dissimilar experiences.   Both my and Mrs M’s passports expired together so, in good time, on a Sunday, I applied for both renewals on-line.

    My home-made digi-mugshot was immediately accepted and my new passport arrived on the Thursday, a mere 4 days.  Rarely has my gob been so roundly smacked.

    Mrs M’s image of digital beauty took around 10 attempts to pass muster and then, a few days later, news arrived that her old passport and been ‘lost in the post’: in fact the envelope had arrived empty at the Passport Office, which looks rather like a rogue Postman Pat was operating as an agent for forgers and had simply nicked it in transit to provide raw materials on commission.  In consequence, Mrs M’s passport was now treated as ‘lost’ and not a renewal, so had to revert to the paper-based application system and, to make matters worse, it acquired the date of the application, rather than replicating the expiry date of its predecessor.  The whole process took about three weeks, admittedly with very co-operative support from the Passport Office staff.  So now our passports are 4 months apart, which may complicate matters for future travel plans.

    So a mixed experience – when the new system works, it’s brilliant but when it falls over, it’s tarnished.

    • Mudplugger, did Mrs Muddy send her expired passport back via Special Delivery? I did my old one because it was still ‘live’  but had it been expired I would have saved myself the £5 extra postage.

      • No such profligacy here, just standard mail, it’s all we downtrodden pensioners can afford: maybe that’s why the envelope’s content evaporated so mysteriously, we’ll never know.

        In practice, the expiry date is unimportant, the forgers just want the raw materials of paper, covers etc., the data is immaterial to them.   Special Delivery may make such theft marginally less likely but, as there’s little monetary value involved, you’d be better off drinking and smoking that extra £5.

  4. In practice, the expiry date is unimportant

    Agreed but as any ugly white  shaved headed man ( I have been mistaken more than once for , among others, Johnny ‘Mad Dog’ Adair-back in my salad days)  in the age range 40-50 with a pair of blue contact lenses could probably get away with using my passport at any checkpoint other than a E-Border thing, better safe than sorry.. At least by sending it Special Delivery I would have a good defence in court/Tribunal -that I had shown due diligence blah blah.

    I noticed upon re-entering the UK the other day that the Border Force officer checking passports was only interested in what her screen said after she had scanned the machine code. She barely glanced at my face. I used to work security and I know for a fact no one can really compare an ID photo that fast even if all the basic markers all agree (ie right skin colour etc).

  5. My wife and I applied for passports in 2014 as we were emigrating to New Zealand. My previous passport was many years expired and my wife had never held one.  We were called for interview in Carlisle which meant that we had a round trip of over 100miles to attend. We were asked exactly the same questions that had been on the application forms. After successfully passing the interview we were told that it would take up to 3 weeks for the passports to be delivered.Imagine my surprise when a courier turned up before 9 am the next morning and handed me a package containing our bright shiny new passports. Something else that has puzzled me, I wear glasses and have done so since a young boy. I am never without them so why do the passport office insist on a photo without glasses and make wearers remove them when facing their machines.

    • up before 9 am the next morning and handed me a package containing our bright shiny new passports.

      In other words the guy interviewing you probably already had your new passports in the drawer and was just making you jump through hoops to tick a quota box.

    • I know, that is only one of any number of Brexshiteur myths (and before anyone grizzles, yes remainers have just as many myths).

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