Passport form

Finally filled in the passport form, and took it with the photos to the post office. Had to pay £7 to get everything checked, new passport should come in a week or so. Has to be one of the most complicated forms of all time. What it must be like if you’re an asylum seeker and English isn’t your first language… Just the sheer determination to fill in the form deserves respect. Only been on my list of things to do for the past 10 months. Always an exciting prospect - the chance of travel to some far-off places. Do they still stamp your book when you arrive in a new country? Only really went to France and Spain on the last one - they weren’t remotely interested in stamping. Although I was once coming back from Calais I was stood in the perfect position to see a middle-eastern woman wearing a veil across her face, remove it briefly for the customs officer - and she was unutterably beautiful. More so because I felt I had glimpsed something secret, that I wasn’t allowed to see. Incredible how the face, once it is forbidden to be seen, becomes extraordinarily erotic…