nick-online  -

I received this in the post today. Thankfully it didn't self-destruct in five seconds. One of the definite perks of being British and working abroad is all the pomp and ceremony surrounding embassies, consulates, and boring paperwork - everything is Her Majesty's This and the Crown Oversees That. Even the most mundane forms, instead of just being posted to you with an only faintly corresponding set of instructions and seven digit codes get delivered in hand-written manilla envelopes, almost certainly from large stately buildings filled with flags and ferrero rocher. I'm definitely going to miss all this when I go home - receiving embassorial letters on embossed paper from the Assistant To The Ambassador Politely Requesting My Attendance To A Garden Party while only half dressed in pyjamas and yesterday's T-shirt can't fail to put a delightfully surreal twist on an otherwise drizzley morning. That said, today's was somewhat short-lived because inside the envelope was my passport renewal form and a note Politely Requesting Me To Fill In The Bits I Missed Out. I'm still going to keep it though.