A long saga

... and a tree-deep puddle.

When I developed glaucoma almost four years ago, I had to inform the DVLA. I had forms to fill in and an eye test at a DVLA approved centre. Then my licence was renewed for a period of three years. At the beginning of May last year, the authority wrote to me telling me it was time to renew my licence. I sent the form back by return of post. 

Three months later, they sent me a letter outlining where I needed to go for an official eye test. I did so. The results were sent off by Specsavers the same day. In October and again in November I sent enquiries as to when I might expect my new licence. I heard nothing beyond auto acknowledgements of a Do Not Reply to this Email nature. At the beginning of December, having not driven for over seven months, I filled in an online complaint. I was polite, but suggested that this length of time was unacceptable. Again, all I had was the auto Do Not Reply response.

Two weeks later, the DVLA sent me a letter telling me that my last eye test was not administered properly (???) and I needed to repeat it. How and why is for me to guess - and no explanation why it took four months to discover the test was unsatisfactory! My guess is that they don't like complaints; they hold all the cards; they can make life difficult for me. As this arrived just before Christmas, today was the earliest appointment I could get. So we hied us to Totnes and I went through the whole rigmarole again. Comes March, my insurance will be due, after I've only used two months' worth of the current 12-month cover. It's utterly crazy. 

Anyway, having ventured out in the foulest of wet and foggy weather, we made a virtue of necessity and stopped at Lidl for a few things on the way home. I stayed in the car from which I took this photo. I liked the reflections in the puddle. (No two-year-olds to paddle in it, sadly.)

So, now it's the weekend. Have a good one, blipmates!