Finally sitting down to my first cup of tea today.

That’s right.  It’s been one of those days where I haven’t even had tea until evening.  ;-)

Green tea with chamomile and honey.

I’m definitely going to need me some chamomile!!

Okay.  This morning, I headed out to the post office, remembering that they close at noon on Wednesdays.  The postmaster was there, so I started off letting her know I had an odd question to ask her.

Did she know me?

She kind of hesitated, with a “not really… I mean, I remember you, but I remember your daughters, more.”

Which was fine.  She could confirm my identity.  She remembered me well enough to remember what house we lived in before leaving the province, how many kids I had, and so on.

I was rather impressed, really.  I barely remember any adults from when I was the age she was at when we left the province!

Anyhow.  I explained why I asked and what I was hoping she could do.  She didn’t have to know me well.  She just had to know me.  After looking over the form, she confirmed that she could sign it for me.  I filled out my part (it specifically states that it has to be filled out in front of the person confirming my identity), then she did the rest, while I regaled her with the problems I’ve been having with updating my ID.  I thanked her profusely.  I could finally go and do my driver’s license!  The first step in a series of steps.

I went home first, to take care of some things, like calling my auto insurance company that I got a letter from, saying my file was “incomplete.”  Talking to the guy on the phone, he explained that my coverage was coming up for renewal and, with my new address, they wanted to confirm it should be renewed.  I explained the situation to him.

Apparently, quite a few people are having the same problem.

As it stands now, my auto-renewal kicks in after March 30.  It would be really good if I can get this straightened out before then.  Not because I’ll lose my insurance, but that if I have to cancel soon after, I will be charged a cancellation fee.  If I cancel before March 30, there will be no fee.

Nice of them to consider that.

Meanwhile, he attached notes to my file about my transfer being delayed and why.

That done, I headed into the next town with all my paperwork to get started on updating my driver’s license.

There was a different woman at the counter this time, so I explained from the start why I was there, and what I had to confirm my identity.

Well, it turns out it didn’t matter.

They still need my marriage certificate.

She even phoned the main office to confirm.  She even gave them my name and information, and they found me in their system from when I last had a license in this province, back in 2004.

Yes, they have me on record with my hyphenated name.

However, because it’s been so long, they have to start over (if I’d moved back within 2 years, it wouldn’t have been an issue).

A marriage certificate is the ONLY document they will accept to do that.

Ugh.

After getting home, I started going through a bin I hadn’t finished unpacking yet that had papers in it, hoping that it might be in there, but nope.  Nothing.

There’s really no point in trying to find it.  I’ll have to phone Vital Statistics and get a new copy.

Who knows how long that will take?

I had even asked her if I should drop half my name and go back to using just my birth name but, as I expected, it would still be the same problem, since my current ID is all in my married name.

I just can’t get over what a pain this is.

At least it’ll be easier for my husband and daughters!

The Re-Farmer