The house on the hill

A couple of months ago, before the seasonal festivities and before the start of the 'big living room project', MrM received a reminder from DVLA that, in February, his driver's licence was due for renewal with a new photo. Of course, with 2 months' notice at a busy time of year, one is inclined to put the reminder to one side as there's plenty of time before it needs to be actioned. And then forget about it. Which is exactly what happened!
On Saturday, MrM remembered it, by which time his licence needed to be renewed without delay. With the coming of new technology the system has changed. As he doesn't have a current passport, he needed to go to a post office where they could take his photo and send it, electronically, to DVLA. It soon became apparent that it couldn't be any old post office - not our local post office in Wooler, or the ones in Berwick or Alnwick. Oh no. The nearest one able to do licence renewals is in Kelso. (Not a very satisfactory system really - if you work conventional office hours during the week you could find it really difficult to get your licence renewed.)

So, this morning, we drove across the Border and visited the post office in Kelso. £21.50 later, mission accomplished!

To take advantage of the journey, we also called round to L and M's to drop off a book that MrM had offered to lend L, and joined them for coffee and a chat. Then a trip to the big supermarket in Kelso, where we stocked up on socks as well as doing the weekly shop. Finally, home to start the working day mid-afternoon!

It was a lovely, blue-sky February day, and very windy. MrM stopped the car a couple of times on the way back for photos. Some lovely views of the hills (extra) from Langham Bridge and, in the other direction, this wintery scene. We also stopped for a couple of shots of Yeavering Bell (to the left of the 2nd extra) - its twin summits were clearly visible from the road.