Passports

 

I took many photos of this fountain, from every conceivable angle, but I was not happy with any of them. Here is the best of the worst.

 

Our passports expired all too soon. It was time to take some qualifying photos and head to the Canada Services building, forms in hand, and renew them. The process for renewing is somewhat streamlined, if you know how to fill out forms on the computer and have an operating printer.

We went to Superstore to have the photos taken and discovered that due to renovations, that department is shut down. Next, we went to London drugs and although a bit dubious about the methods used, got the photos and paid for them. On the way home, busylizzy took a hissy fit and declared her photo unusable. I tried to reassure her that driver's licence photos and passport photos are supposed to make one look old and ugly. But, she was adamant that she get hers re-taken and at a different place. She did, and was suddenly relaxed and happy about the whole process. I am OK with old and ugly so I kept my London Drugs photo, which we have found out since, are routinely rejected by the powers that be and delays are experienced while new photos are taken.

You would think that the officers at Services Canada would have the qualifications to accept or reject a photo before the whole application was sent to Ottawa. Anyway, ours were accepted and now we are the proud owners of new chip technology 10 year passports, although it was lucky we did get them when we did.

The mail delivery was made to our neighbour and if we were not on speaking terms, and if he did not know us or cared about our mail, he could have thrown the notices in the garbage.

I do have one complaint. Politicians keep telling us that taxes are not going up, and as such, that may be true. But what keeps going up is all the fees and services that we are required to purchase. The 10 year passports cost us $320.00 about double what a 5 year one would cost. Now the government does not have to deal with our passport for 10 years, (the only difference between a 5 year and 10 year is the two small digits under "expiration date") but they got paid double. It is like the Vehicle Air Care two year inspection that cost double, even though you are only getting one inspection. It is a rip-off and clearly a form of higher taxation.