From the last list of things to do, I did no.1, the Albright paper, some of no.2 (Chapter 1 exercises) and made a messy start on no.4 (expenses claim).

I’m so hopeless at expenses forms, and I’m always extra-wary of them, from the time when the company I used to work for was relocating. I had been house-hunting in the new area, and could claim it all back, so I filled in the form as best I could - I’d never had cause to do such a thing before then. I got summonsed to Finance, such as it was, and told I’d done it all wrong, and that if I was going to move, and continue working with the company, I had better start toeing the line or some such. I thought that was a bit harsh - it’s not like I’d deliberately sabotaged the form. And to add insult to injury, she didn’t even bloody move either!

Today’s list of things to do is:

1. Put off doing the expenses form;
2. Wash and dry the bed clothes for the spare room;
3. De-cat the the spare room duvet;
4. Make up the spare room bed;
5. Go to Bar Hill Tesco and buy some food (I’d like to support our local, independent butcher’s, grocer’s and greengrocers, but they’re all amalgamated into a little Tesco);
6. Read the section on verbs in the Catalan book.

I think I’ll be good at doing no.1, although maybe if I’m not meant to be doing it, I will do it…

1. Albright paper
2. Exercises for Chapter 1
3. Catalan verbs
4. Expenses claim

I had my first ever supervisory board meeting today. It was to mark the end of the year and to see if I should be recommended to proceed to the next year or not. I was told I’d have to do a 5 minute presentation, but I didn’t give myself much time to prepare one. Luckily, I wangled my way out of it: my board chair asked if I wanted to do one, and I said I’d rather not if I didn’t have to, so he said that because my supervisor, my board advisor and himself have all seen me present before, I needn’t, so I said I wouldn’t. The meeting finished on time - my advisor concluded it was the lack of presentation that did it. The chair went through the form me and my supervisor had had to fill in (separately, of course!), and all went well, so he filled in his bit and said the board recommend I proceed.

I received my shiny new V5C in the post today! That means I can now get my car MOT’d and then, hopefully, taxed. I’ve even renewed my car insurance. Still plenty of time before all the end of May deadlines, too, although it’s really not been my fault this year. Not totally, anyway.

I haven’t yet received a new V5C form, so I decided to ring the DVLA up and ask them about it. Easier said than done - they have so many different numbers you can phone for all sorts of different-but-similar things.  I rang one in the back of the V5C notes booklet (which probably has a number), and was told by the nice recorded man that they were very busy, then told I could look on the Internet for stuff, which was useful only for running up the phone bill, because at the end of the spiel, I was rather abruptly cut off.  No putting me on hold or anything like that.

I rang the number on the road tax form instead, just to see.  It rang, then the same nice recorded man as before told me about the Internet again, then said I had four options to choose from.  The third one was to continue the call in Welsh, which amused me.

I rang the first number again, twice, finally getting through, to be greeted by the nice recorded man telling me the same sort of thing and that I had heard before, and gave me another menu to choose from.  I decided that no.2 was the ideal choice - to check up on an application already made, although no.1 was about taxing/SORNing your car, so at first, I wasn’t sure if no.2 was only to do with tax or if it was any application in general.  Anyway, I was put on hold, with the nice recorded man telling me how busy they were and I’d be on hold for 2 to 5 minutes.  Eventually, after listening to Erasure for 2 to 5 minutes, the nice recorded man said he appreciated the fact that I was waiting ever so patiently, when he was interrupted by a nice lady who told me that my form had been posted yesterday and that I should get it in the next couple of days.

If it doesn’t get lost in the post.

The DVLA doesn’t seem to know one end of its arse from the other. How can one organisation have so little clue about what it itself is doing?

I sent off my V5C (the log book) to tell the DVLA my name has changed. I haven’t heard from them yet.

The car tax is due soon. I received a reminder yesterday, in the post. From the DVLA. To Miss C. Taylor. You can’t use that form (V11) if the name on the form is wrong. You have to fill in form V10 instead. “The V10 is…available ffrom all Post Office Branches” sayeth the V11. I went to the Post Office.

“We don’t have those forms anymore,” said the nice lady in the Post Office.

“But it said on the form…” I said.

They don’t do those forms anymore, she said. The only place that does them is the aptly-named local DVLA office. In Peterborough.

She also said I should be able to use the V5C form in conjunction with the V11 the DVLA sent me.

“I sent it to the DVLA,” I said.

She told me I should have kept half of it. I didn’t. I sent the whole thing off. I didn’t see any instruction that told me to keep any of it. So I sent the whole thing off.
I thanked her for her help and left the Post Office.

Luckily, you can also download form V10 from the Internet. It has notes. The notes say I need to produce a valid V5C form. I haven’t got one.

My MOT is due soon as well. Guess what you need to take along with you for an MOT. Yes, your V5C form.

I’ve been slowly getting round to changing my name with various people, like the bank and so on. I rang the telly licence people the other day. “I’ve just got married and my names’s changed,” I said. “Mrs Ross?” she asked. I was stunned. She knew that from the bank details, which had magically filtered through. “Er, yes,” I said. She told me that they wouldn’t send me another licence, but all future correspondence would be addressed to Mrs Ross. “Ok,” I said.

This morning, Mr Postman delivered a letter from them, addressed to “Miss C Taylor”.