South African Home Affairs - a breeze! What?

Yes, we finally scheduled an afternoon to go through to Home Affairs to apply for two passports. We were dreading the queues and the bad service. We should already have gone last year, but there are
always ALWAYS a better thing to do than going to your local Home Affairs!

We decided on the Roodepoort offices as most people said the service there is the best.

We were pleasantly surprised:

- We did not have to fill in any forms. Everything is electronic. (A BIG bonus to me, as I HATE filling in forms.)

- We were immediately put into an electronic queue after we paid the said amount (R400 *ouch!!*= 35.38 US dollar) for the passports. That helps considerably as you don't have to figure out in which queue you need to be.

- The photos were taken on site. (Little Miss and I rocked up with a whole set of awful "passport photos" for ourselves). You don't have to fight all the budding photographers outside the door, or pay for your own set of photos any more!

- We could wait for our turn sitting down, and helping Little Miss with her homework.

- The fingerprints were taken electronically, and we did not have to content with getting black ink off our fingers any more!

- It took us just a little over an hour to get it done, and they said we will only have to wait for four weeks for our passport documents. (*Holding thumbs*)

Instruction by Little Miss to take photos of her hairstyle while waiting
(We had time for this...)

- We got an sms notification immediately that we have applied for the passports.

- The service was good, although there could have been more friendly faces. (But I don't blame the Home Affairs officials for looking like Dread at the end of the day working there...)


- Final note: So glad both parents went together, as the passport for the little ones requires both parents' fingerprints!


My brother in San Antonio, we are seeing you in middle 2015!
Little Miss and I will be going over the oceans for the first time in our lives! (The Student has been to France and England, and Hubby has been to a couple of places as well!)

How to survive a queue

After my harrowing experience in a queue for the renewal of my driver’s licence on Monday, I have a few notes on how to survive such a queue.

• Never go on a Monday to a government department. (Cat at Juggling Act of Life) Especially not when it is between the weekend and a holiday!
• Do not leave renewals to the last day. Then you don’t have a choice but to stand in the queue.
• Try to go with a partner or accomplice. One starts to queue while the other one is busy finding out how it works. (There are usually no signs, and nobody to direct you to the correct place.)
• Ensure that you have water with you.
• Take food or munchies with you!
• Take enough change with you to use in the vending machines. (Hopefully there are some!)
• Take a hat when you are going to stand for hours in the sun.
• Take a jacket when you stand outside. The wind and shadows can become very cold!
• Make sure you have enough cash with you. Government Departments are not big on card machines.
• Make sure you have enough change for payment. Or else you end up paying more because they don’t have change.
• Take a black pen.
• Take more than one form in case you make a mistake.
• Take something to keep you occupied, such as a book. Smartphones also help.
• Do not take a baby, toddler or children with you.
• Take tissues (also as a back-up when you have to go to the toilets).
• Do not get a cocky attitude with any of the staff working at the government department. You will regret it!
• Smile!

Hell is standing in a queue for a driver’s licence

Today was supposed to be part of a long weekend. We’ve got a public holiday tomorrow.

I was supposed to quickly go to apply for the renewal of my driver’s licence, before I had the rest of the day to myself... Ha-ha-ha! (Murphy, you are very cruel!)

Because the Teen applied for a learner’s licence just a while ago, she said she would accompany me! (She’s the one with the superior knowledge of testing stations!)

We should have been there at half past seven already... (Big mistake!) Only thing we did right was to drop the Toddler off at my parents!

We went to a nearby mall to get id photos and an eye test. The thought was that we could skip a queue...

We started at Krugersdorp Testing Station; because somebody told us that it goes quick and easy there. When we arrived, there were two long rows already. Especially the queue for the eye tests which was not moving at all. But we were still smug! We have the paper for the eye test... I was busy filling in the form for the application, when the queue was changed into one, and we were at the back, even behind the eye test queue. We were told by some of the people in the queue that they came from Randfontein were the queues were even longer...

(We should have stayed there!)

We decided to go to the testing station where the Teen got her learner’s! Driving over 20 kilometres, only to find that they don’t do driver’s licences...

We drove to Florida Testing Station to find a queue going out the door as well. We were also told that we still had to give our fingerprints, and that we would still have to stand in the same queue.

We got there at twelve, and we left there at four. The queue moved at two paces an hour, with us having to stand in the shade first (which were too cold), and then the sun (I got sunburnt!).

After half an hour you start to realise that you should have been here much earlier. You contemplate leaving the whole time, but my driver’s licence expired today... (Never leave it to the last day!!) After an hour you can’t leave, because you have invested too much time there already...

Just before 4pm they came out and told us that we would not be able to pay, because the people were cashing up for the day! Some ugly words were thrown from the back, but the people of Power just shrugged! There were about four people in front of us. We decided to stick it out, and got our fingerprints and papers onto the system... Now I have to go back on Wednesday morning to pay!

It is amazing how much camaraderie build up between people standing in a queue. I think that this is where nation-building is taking place day by day!  Forget about singing songs or sport matches!

There is nothing that gets people talking, laughing and helping each other as much as having to stand in such a queue.

It is Hell, but we all feel the same towards the people in Power! We have found the common enemy!