You Can’t Hide

Mrs C was trying to photograph something in the garden. I’m not sure what it was, but a lamb horn, sunflowers, bubble machine, pieces of apple and a snail were involved. There was also a length of material pegged to the washing line, though it was unclear whether that was to use as a background or to hide behind.
If the latter, I’m going to say it was only a partial success, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to take this photo. Also, the attempt to merge into the background by sitting in the Clematis might have worked better with a less brightly coloured t-shirt.
Still, she seemed happy sitting in the sun so I left her to it whilst I chased up a council tax refund in respect of our Chester flat which was sold over three months ago. No suitable forms online so I had to phone. Finally got through to someone after a lot of dire recorded warnings about treating their staff with respect or they’d hang up. I was politeness personified, though it did get tricky when she explained the reason our refund was delayed was because we’d requested it online. In spite of the fact that this was the only way we could claim it according to their own website. It seems I should have ignored all that and just phoned them.
I remained polite and asked when I might expect to receive the refund - even by their most pessimistic timescale it was well overdue.
Amazingly, after thirty seconds on hold, I was told that the refund had been authorised today. I mean, what are the chances? Once again, I bit my tongue and refrained from mentioning what an “amazing coincidence” it was that it had been authorised on the same day I happened to call. Instead I thanked her for her assistance, wished her a pleasant day and hung up before bursting into hysterical laughter.
I wonder what the Council’s official timescale between “authorisation” and “actually putting money in an account” is?