Banks, bills and passports

Today was an admin day. The plan was to start with arranging to move a bank account, then move on sorting out passport applications for the children, and finally clear some minor action items from my eMail inbox. As things turned out, I have been pretty successful.

Moving the bank account turned out to be straightforward. In the end all it really amounted to was signing a form. This was made just a little more complicated by me having to provide a copy of my passport which had been certified as a "true copy".

My daughters passports will run out in the not too distant future. The forthcoming trip to Russia has prompted us to check various bits of documentation, and we found that it was time to renew them. Since some recent (2008) changes in the legislation, applying for a passport has become more complicated. I think the objective is to prevent fraudulent applications.

Filling in the forms (one for each daughter) took a little while. And once the forms had been completed all four off us had to go to the Garda (Police) Station, to get the forms witnessed.

Each passport application requires: a signature from each of the parents so say they don't mind the child having a passport. Each of these signatures has to be witnessed by the Garda. Presumably, this is to stop one of the parents taking the children without the other's knowledge. Then the applicant has to sign the application and the Garda has to sign that. And the Garda has to write application numbers on the back of the photographs, and sign them as well. And the Garda has to log this whole palaver in a book. Bear in mind this all has to be done twice, and we are all being careful that we don't accidentally mix up the photos and application forms of identical twins. I think the lot of us, parents, children and garda were a bit frazzled. I don't think Irish policewomen (or men) are all that keen on passport applications, and I think they are entitled not to be.

In between filling in the forms and the trip to the Garda Station, I did a little ironing. I don't do much ironing, but I did some today. I've literally been laundering money (in a legal way). I needed a few single dollar bills (good old greenbacks) for emergencies on the trip. The ones the bank supplied me with were really scruffy, so I've ironed them. They're much better now. It was a surreal but strangely satisfying experience.

I addition to all this, I reduced the number of items in my inbox. So, progress on all fronts. The passport forms will be posted tomorrow.