Today's main task is to renew my Discovery Card.
This card gets you into most Bath tourist attractions for free, and to renew it you have to take documents which prove your residency in the city ( such as a Council Tax bill) to the Roman Baths.
There is a big, circular desk at the entrance and us residents walk past the great queues of tourists to the section at the back of it, show our credentials to someone, stand in front of a computer which takes your photograph, then a couple of moments later it spits out your shiny, new, up to date card.
Last time the woman asked if I wanted to take a new photo or make do with the old one. I said that the old one was so unflattering that I would have a fresh one taken, and stood in the box on the floor, trying to look handsome.
When the card was spat out, it was twice as bad as the old one, and has actually been improved by spending a year stuffed up against all my other cards in the wallet as I walk around. The one stored in the computer at the Baths will look just the same, so maybe I will play dice and have a new one taken.
I hate having my picture taken, so the new license photo every three years is a trial for me and my ego. Several years ago, back in the day before everything was digitized and immediate, I woke up and was having a good hair day. I got the bright idea to take advantage of that by taking my license renewal form to the driver center and getting the dreaded picture done. I spent extra time on my make up, showed up there with my paperwork, and waited three weeks for the new card to arrive in the mail, certain, for the first time in my life that I was going to have a decent picture on my driver's license. The envelope came and there I was with my perfect hair and make up...unfortunately, there was some sort of flaw in the film and it looked like I had a massive booger hanging from my left nostril.
ReplyDeleteIn 3 years time it will be hanging from the other nostril. Great story.
DeleteMy two worst ever photographs are on my passport and my driver's licence - as I am not likely to use either ever again I can forget the indignity of handing over something which looks like an escaped convict.
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine took his passport photo wearing dark sunglasses and it was accepted. He had to travel with the same pair for the next 10 years.
DeleteI do not know anyone that is happy with their photo id. Passport and driver's licence photos are guaranteed not to flatter. Digitized fingerprint or computer facial recognition would probably be better forms of id.
ReplyDeletePolice mug-shots do the same thing. Everyone looks like a murderer, guilty or not.
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