Actually, I have to dock half a mark from the DVLA for putting “Date: As Postmarked” on their letter. This is very bad form. Especially cos there was no postmark on the envelope, since it was a pre-paid business envelope that got half way to my home then had a huge airmail sticker plastered on it, then got to the USA and had a USPS barcode stuck on it too. I find myself wondering if they should’ve put on another stamp, the amount of extra bulk that gets added by the time it gets here. The upshot of this is that the DVLA’s cost-cutting move leaves me without ammunition to complain to the royal mail, since they can say “ah yeah, that was sent on the day before expiry and must have got delayed at the US end.”

The other thing, on a related note, is the laser-printed signature… the POINT of a signature is it’s proof of a person’s involvement in something. Sometimes I wish I was a little more arsey than I am, so I could just send back documents that arrive like that and write “Dear Sir, I thought you should be aware somebody appears to be forging your signature”.

Curmudgeonly? Moi?!