I have it back!!
What a wonderful system! The Post Office checks your renewal form for the passport, sends it in and gives you a date that the passport will arrive before - and hey presto! it worked. ONE week, that is not the same experience as the three months wait I have had in the past, together with the nagging feelings of wondering whether it will arrive before the airplane takes off!! The old one came back too - battered, with two ears cut out of the cover, but I have my memories and stamps back!
Yesterday was the day of the knickers hunt - yes you did read that correctly. I zig-zagged across the countryside from Shropshire to Staffordshire to find a shop with something a little more interesting that M&S cotton briefs! Wellington did not even yield up the shop, I know its there but simply could not find it. Blind as a bat??? So I shot off to Stone to Chantilly, was given a parking ticket for 45 minutes by another motorist and dashed into the shop, asked the lady if she could fit me up with underwear in 35 minutes? Easy she said! Sized me up without a measuring tape - checked it and then gave me lots to try on. So I am now the proud owner of some lovely knickers and bras and considerable more zeros on my bank statement!!
I have one query though, why do those mirrors in the shop always make me look so elephantine? It will be several years before I venture in again - the michelin experience is not one I enjoy! I just hope those knickers are of good quality material.....