Egypt4u

Has anyone noticed how web designers are increasingly insisting on putting text in a light colour on a similarly light coloured background. The worst combinations for me are white text on a pale pastel background like green, blue, pink or even yellow. Many are impossible to read and I often have to click and swipe to highlight the text which helps....sometimes

Today I had another stupid example. A few days ago I sent off my passport renewal using a downloaded form. Black on white paper so no problem. Today I received a letter from the passport office saying my application had been rejected because my signature went outside the box. My signature is a bit of a flourish and difficult to keep inside the box. However, I remember clearly that it DID NOT go outside the box but I do concede it touched the line in one small place.

Anyhow, they sent me another form to complete and the accompanying notes emphasise that ALL responses MUST be within the boxes. Failure will result in the application being rejected and if the application is not submitted satisfactorilly within some timescale, the application will be cancelled and the fee forfeited. Bl**dy Gestapo, who do these people work for anyhow.....US as far as I remember.

But to get to the point, the form is printed very pale orange on white background and is almost impossible to read and the squares are illegible. So much so that I made a mistake entering some numbers in boxes I could not see. Off to the post office to get another form. Just the same as the one they sent me but sitting outside in the shade on a sunny afternoon I DID manage to complete the form AND keep my signature inside the box. Doesn't look like my true signature of course First class stamp and in the post box for delivery tomorrow.

My scanner interpreted the form better than it really is but pale orange on white......what clowns design these things????


PS. They did not rerturn my passport and the form required my passport number. Fortunately I had recorded it but otherwise I don't know how I could possibly complete EVERY required question. Grrrrrr

As you say Grandad, you sometimes have to wonder who these people think that they are and who is paying their wages, we just put up with so much crap in this country at times, it is an insidious creeping bureaucracy of jobsworth’s and officialdom, it makes my blood boil at times

Time to rise up ?

I know the type of forms whereof you speak! AGH!!!! In the world of forms, for some, esthetics matter WHY?!?!?! It is a bloody form - black and white OR navy blue and white should suffice but WHY do we need to have a multitude of form colours.

I feel your pain Grandad.

I also know the problem with keeping a signature 'within' a box, my own tends to start with a flourish and then tail off, very difficult to contain

I would never have done something as renew my passport online especially with these silly colours.

When Roy booked me for Rome I new my passport was out of date so panic & how quickly I got myself to the post office, took home 2 forms just in case of any mistakes which I did do!

Paying the little extra for them to check is worth it & within 7 days my new passport was back..........phew!!!

Kiya the online process is very simple and you get a form that you can read. Unless you have different forms in Scotland yours would also have been the pale orange on white like ours which is almost illegible.

Yet another example of a Government departments KGB tactics. About four months ago I received a letter from HMRC advising me that I had underpaid tax in the year 2011 - 12 to the tune of £550. I disagreed with their figures and wrote to them asking for a breakdown of their claimed income.

I heard nothing and about two months later received what was in effect a final demand for payment of the 'unpaid tax'. I telephoned HMRC and after about an hour on hold was told that there was no record of my letter. I've heard that before. I again requested a breakdown which did arrive after about two weeks. This showed a payment of around £3000 which they claimed was paid by my occupational pension.

I contacted the pension administrators who sent me a letter confirming that no such payment had been made in the said tax year. I sent another letter with copy of the pensions office letter to HMRC by registered post (£6.45). Today I received a letter from the tax office which reads "Dear Sir. I am pleased to tell you that you overpaid £73.48 tax in the year 2011 - 12. A bank transfer for this is attached to this letter. Yours etc.."

No reference to their earlier threats if I didn't pay 'unpaid tax', no reference to earlier correspondence, and not a word of apology. Ironically and coincidentally, the Daily Mail headline today reads "TAXMAN REFUSES TO TAKE OUR CALLS" I expect their are SO MANY BALLSUPS that they can't cope.

Pity they didn't spend more time chasing the real tax avoiders.......and not least the 'cash only' cowboys.

Hey Grandad, I thought you had retired???

@ Jayway
You lost me Jay, I retired in 1999 at 65

Jay, you are forgetting that Grandad is a closet millionaire

Horus wrote:Jay, you are forgetting that Grandad is a closet millionaire

You forgot the 'multi' bit Horus We are talking pennies, aren't we?

Or monopoly money or the old Turkish Lire

I must have got all my answers in the invisible boxes on my passport application because my new passport arrived yesterday afternoon....BY PRIVATE COURIER? How long have they been doing that, I thought they sent by registered post? The mug shot is pretty grim and the signatuire is nothing like mine BUT IT WAS IN THE BOX

BTW folks, ever so quiet on here, nobody got anything to say? We need some more piccies I think H

Quiet in more ways than one - I've had laryngitis for over a month, when any sound comes out I usually sound strangled or have a really deep "masculine" voice, which surprises me, so mostly it's just very quiet around here.

I'm up and down the Island and pretty wrapped up with fixing the house. I'm "almost" done (if painting the deck doesn't kill me).

We're also on severe drought restrictions so I'm spending a fair amount of time carrying water to my plants.

Today I did take the twins to COOMBS. It is really no more than a stop on a highway and it is basically a country market stop that has been there since sometime in the 1970ies and features one specific store called "Goats on the Roof" which does have a thatched roof and daily several goats are put up there to graze.

The twins loved seeing the ladies up there particularly as one with long curly horns was bleating at the crowds.

It is something of a tourist stop and if you don't get there in the morning you won't find a parking spot. In "Goats on the Roof" they bring in yearly a selection of ornamental iron. I was there a few weeks ago and their yearly shipment had been delayed (boat didn't arrive which is the mantra of the island) but today I did get some iron to decorate my privacy fence. It is nothing really special but I'll spray paint it all back and it'll add a bit of décor to an otherwise plain cedar fence.

This the URL http://www.oldcountrymarket.com/

Interesting web site LLL

The entire area is a quasi mix of old farms that have turned to trying to attract tourists to wild animal sanctuaries, a HUGE parrot sanctuary (have never gone in there as I anticipate the noise level of screeching parrots to be pretty darn high) and various farms that sell everything from their own honey to organic eggs, veggies, fruits, meat, cheese, beef etc. The word "organic" is on most everything that is sold.

The twins went to a birthday party hosted at Tiger Lily Farm http://www.tigerlilyfarm.ca/ two weekends ago. They got to see all the animals and the highlight was that both the horses Carson rode on POOP'D!

I was totally unaware that Grandad was so wealthy - - I am not at all financially minded so I thought people lived on their pension and didnt pay tax. I did pay tax in UK, it was usually emergency tax as I moved a lot and tried a lot of different jobs, not all of them were tax paying jobs . . . ( like charity work) I really wasnt so interested in taxes . . .