I'm soothed

Went to the Bray Motor Tax office first thing this morning to apply for driving license renewal. Very friendly woman behind the glass (is that really necessary?) who helped put yesterday's frustration behind me. I handed in my application, old license and fee and was told a new license will be with me in a couple of weeks.

{By going in person, you can get a letter from the motor tax office that will suffice if the Gardai ask to see your license. If you post it to Wicklow's main office, they will not send you such a letter!}

One further note about the stupidity of government. On the official Irish government web site (I think that's what this is) the reader is instructed to "download and complete application form D.401 (PDF)", which I did. I brought the form with me this morning figuring that having a completed form would speed things up a little. Well, it doesn't.

As the helpful woman beind the glass pointed out to me, the proper form has a sticker on it for your signature. This sticker is then used on the actual license. And, of course, that sticker can't be on anything downloaded and printed out, so my completed downloaded form was a waste of time. Typical.