THE RIGHT SENSE OF ORIENTATION

Where normal people have a sense of orientation, I must have something else, it's like the countries where the cars drive on the right side and others where they drive on the left.

I often  do the opposite of what I should do, but really not on purpose, it just happens. So it can happen that I might have the best intentions but am completely wrong.

Everybody says that I am a good driver the only fault I have is that I mix up right with left and the other way around. Even my 9 year old grandson when he sits besides me does not only tell me "turn right" but also points his finger in this direction, because he knows his grandma's difficulties in turning into the right direction.

The best and most sophisticated GPS (satnav or whatever it is called) always tells me the right direction but if I don't look on the screen I would not turn left when she says left, but right and when she says turn right you can count on me that I turn left.

This has brought me some unwanted adventures, which in the very moment I didn't appreciate, but which today make me laugh.

Once I was invited by a friend, she gave me the address, I put it in my GPS and started to drive. I followed the instructions but didn't look on the screen. It was a strange area, certainly not one where people lived, but where they usually are buried after their death. I had taken the wrong direction on a very long street which led from Waterloo to Brussels over 15 km and I had landed in front of a graveyard and not in front of my friend's house. Later I heard that this cemetery is very famous, because all the VIPs of Belgium where buried there, and beautiful statues decorated the graves. Through the grids I saw some, and it was confirmed that I wasn't in the yard of my friend. I called her that I would be late because I had landed at the Ixelles cemetery and she must have shaken her head because she said how the heck did you arrive there ? I don't know.

I never drive without my GPS even when I know the road by heart, because with my steady mixing up of left and right I once landed in the middle of two fields on a small cobbled farm lane, and the cows who were happy about this unexpected company all came to my car and looked through the windows. There was a fence on both sides so there couldn't get into my car, but I tell you a cow head is real big when it looks at you through the window.

Another time I wanted to go home, took the wrong direction and almost landed at the sea, which is 150 km from Brussels. Fortunately I realized that I was on the wrong line when I read the city names.

I could go on for hours, with all the adventures I had, but I think each time it happened I wrote it down in this blog.









Linkingt to Linda G. Hills SOCS-ght

WHAT MEANS "THE MAGICIAN's SIRE"

As One Liner Wednesday's theme Linda asks : tell me the first thing that comes to mind when you read this book title: "The Magician’s Sire". Of course I had never heard of this book or it must have another title in French.

As I didn't understand the meaning of the title I looked up  the word "Sire" in my dictionary. The Magician remains the same, but the word "sire" had so many translations ! Besides of what I thought i.e. that you have to say Sire when you speak to a King, the other translations were rather comical !
Sire may be a producer (of kids), the father of animals, or the Grandpa from your mother's side. All very logical I thought and imagined how to put the producer of your children called Sire into an understandable English ?

I decided that normally a King has a magician and not the magician a King or Sire. Usually Kings had fools in the past to be amused, today they have their governments as fools and are not so amused anymore.








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EXPIRATION DATES SOMETIMES REALLY FUNNY

I couldn't find out who had invented the expiration dates on nearly everything, except husbands and wives. Sure is that in most countries it started in 1981. Before people ate things when they should be rotten, but still not are, yogurts which taste delicious but are supposed to be disgusting since 3 days or even only one. You should watch the expiration date on rice, beans and other dried vegetables, which is strange because people stocked it for years when it was necessary especially in winter times, and they are still alive, me included. The same was with potatoes, my father stocked potatoes in the basement without writing a date on them and they lasted a whole season ! The rotten once we could see and throw away.

The expiration date of pharmaceuticals specifies the date the manufacturer guarantees the full potency and safety of a drug. Most medications continue to be effective and safe for a time after the expiration date. The study showed that about 90% of them were safe and effective as long as 15 years past their expiration dates. The others are send to Africa, for them everything is good with or without expired dates.

I should be dead since a long time with all what I had swallowed during 75 years, without looking at dates and all the added chemicals to the food !

Of course the reason for most expiration dates is not for you, the consumer, it's for the
manufacturer. You see, they put those expiration dates on the cans, boxes, bottles and jars for one reason only: to make money!

There are really some strange dates for example an expiration date for your child's seat (and when you have used it only 5 times ??)

Rice, beans, peas, lentils are supposed to remain consumable for ages, suddenly they don't last more then a year ! And the sailors in the past who crossed the ocean before fridge and microwave what did they eat ? My great, great,  great (I really don't know who many greats I should put) grand uncle when he immigrated to New York had to take beans, peas and lentils along, because the crossing of the ocean lasted 6 month !

Anyway I use the good old method, I put my nose in the product and smell. If it smells good then I eat it, if not I throw it away.

Linking to SOCS - xp

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY -

 

This is Mr. G with his cat Arthur, renamed "Brexit"




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What thinks a cat about the Brexit ?

Since motnhs they have asked to get out and now that the door is wide open, they stay put and fixate the door refusing to go out ! The truth is, I would do exactly the same in this particular situation.

People who know cats, also know that if a cat wants to go out, she stays half in half out thinking the situation over. Just when you think she will go out, she turns around and comes in again. Or it happens the other way around ! That's why some cats have been renamed "Brexit"



Arthur, renamed Brexit, has decided to go back to Europe, (for how long ?)


Linking to One liner Wednesday

MY VERY FIRST CELLPHONE

I don't remember exactly when I bought my first cell phone, we call it GSM in Belgium, and elsewhere just "mobile". It must have been before the Belgian Franc was abandonned and the Euro introduced in 2001. I guess it was in 2000 or a little before because I still remember the price, it was very expensive and I had payed 14.000 FB (sounds horrendous) but in Euro it's 340 or 387 $ ! A fortune when you compare it to today's prices.

I was one of the first vintage ladies who bought one, the others were afraid it would bite. Of course I was very proud of my new gadget. The only thing was, not a lot of people had cellphones and calling on a normal telephone was very expensive. But never mind I had it. It was big and rather heavy but all this didn't matter.




Shortly after I had bought it, maybe 2 weeks later I had to put it on charge, and then the catastrophe happened !  I had put the charger besides the oven and the cellphone on the extractor hood while I heated water to cook Spaghettis. When I dropped the Spaghettis into the boiling water, the package touched the cable of the charger and my brand new cellphone dropped into the Spaghettis ! Of course it was completely broken, I had to fish it out amongst the cooking Spaghettis and tried to dry it but it was useless.

After supper Mr. G. declared that these were the most expensive Spaghettis he had eaten in his whole life ! I was so angry with myself !

I bought a new one, and of course never ever I put something on charge on top of the extractor !



Today cellphones are still in use, but have become half of the size of the first once and are replaced more and more by I-phones or Smartphones. I don't know if this is the only item where the price dropped from 340 € to 17 €, which is enormous ! Unfortunately food and clothes didn't follow !

Link here

"Cell.."

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - BLACK IS BLACK

Surprised !


Until I was 18 I never had seen a black person ! I am sure that I have seen some when I was two or three, but my memories are a bit fuzzy. It must have been in 1946 when American soldiers arrived in the little town where my grandparents lived, near Frankfurt, this part of Germany was occupied by American soldiers.

Of course there were also black soldiers, but I didn't realize, I only remember the helmets, the ugly uniforms (maybe since then I am allergic to all uniforms) and the awful cracking noise which the tanks made, when the chains broke the surface of the street and left deep traces.

That there was something strange going on I sensed because my grandpa hold my hand so tight and pulled me close to him. I was intrigued by the noise and the strange behaviour of the people around me, but then the soldiers threw sweets into the crowd for the children. My grandpa held me even stronger because the children hurried to pick up the sweets. I was not interested in sweets but in what was going on. The rest I don't remember.

When I started business school in Brussels I was nearly 19. In my class was a black girl. I had never seen a black person life and so close. I tried to avoid to stare at her and was impressed when she turned her hands that they were pink. I don't know why, but she choose to sit besides me and smiled at me with her sparkling white teeth in her black face. I thought before she thinks that I am a bit stupid, I chose the truth and told her that I had never seen a black person in my life ! She bursted out in laughter and said "Then look at me as you wish" I laughed too and found the white in her black eyes very strange or maybe funny. From that day on we became friends and at one point I didn't even see anymore that she had another skin color as me.

I had told her that I had lived in Germany until I was 14 and there I had never seen a black woman or man. Of course Germany had no colony and under Hitler it was better to be white then black and even that wasn't a guarantee people had to be white, tall, blond and blue eyed. He never had looked in a mirror, because he was small, had brown hair and brown eyes.

Belgium had the Congo and therefore there were a lot of black people in Brussels My son had a few friends and still has and now children are all mixed in a class. Black, white, asiatic, it doesn't matter they grow up together which is a very good thing.

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One liner Wednesday

THE CAT WITH TWO TAILS

Last time we played Scrabble we were at Nicole's. Meanwhile her cat, she had taken in an animal shelter had taken possession of the house, and Nicole had become her servant, as most of cat's owners are. Isis is very social but is difficult in her choice, and immediately showed who she liked and who  not.



Two of us were avoided I don't know why, the three others got her approval and we were allowed to pet her. She also went into my bag which probably contained Arthur's smell.

We all admired little Isis who, since she had landed at Nicole's had become a beautiful cat, and had also put on weight but not too much.

Nicole had the visit of a neighbor with his 4 year old daughter, who got excited about Isis and wanted to catch her. Isis hates children because in her first home she was considered as a toy and must have suffered a lot, until she was brought to the shelter. Bad memories are never forgotten so she was hiding in a safe place.

The favorite toy of Isis is a mink tail, which Nicole had cut off a mink wrap as women wore in the 30ths and which is not in fashion at all anymore, but for Isis it was the best toy ever.






The cat with two tails !

The little girl was still looking for the cat and suddenly found the mink tail. As the the colors matched she picked up the tail, went to Nicole and said "Auntie Nicole, I already found the tail, but where is the rest of Isis" ?

Children's sayings are better then jokes !!

BELGIAN SNOWSTORM

Long before it really started to snow, people started to be in panic ! And it's true, the media really made a big catastrophe out of the few snowflakes we finally got.



We reached about 3 cm in the Brussels' area and it snowed about 24 h !  Today's view out of my window to the left.


The Belgians have a lot of humor,  I found this yesterday on Facebook ! It was shared I don't know how many times.

In fact nobody was hurt, only the traffic was a mess and the public transport which in normal times is rather bad, was even worse during this dramatic time !

Rules

MY PERSONAL ER SERIE

Today's prompt : Hospital

One morning years ago the phone was ringing. On the other end of the line I heard somebody whisper with a very weak voice, and I heard "Can you come, help me please", suddenly I recognized the voice of my best friend Jeanine. I didn't ask anything, because we knew each other so well, no words were needed. I quickly dressed with whatever I just found, jumped in my car, opened the front door of her house with my spare key and found her laying half on the sofa and half on the floor, the telephone besides her.

I knew that she had chronically asthma and sometimes terrible attacks where her spray was not sufficient.I don't remember how I managed to carry her to my car and put her on the seat. In emergency situations you develop special strength. I drove as quickly as I could to the emergency service of our hospital. I managed to get a stretcher and she was pushed into a little room with a curtain and one seat for me and a nurse told me the doctor would come immediately.

My friend's face looked worse and worse and I could see her efforts to breath, I kept my eyes on my watch and realized that "immediately" was apparently a word you could stretch for hours. After 10 min I had enough. I went outside looking for a doctor or at least somebody who would take care of her. Nobody was visible. Suddenly I heard laughter and followed the noise and there they were all, the doctors and nurses, drinking their coffee, while my friend fought for her life. I saw red like a bull, stormed in the room and asked if somebody could come after all this was not a café but an emergency service. An angry nurse throw me out and said the doctor would come "immediately" yes I said, I know this word. The nurse went away and I sat down and suddenly I had an idea. I saw the sign "non smoking" looked in my purse and took out a cigarette which I lightened and blow the smoke out the little cabin as far as I could. Not one min later they all came in a hurry shouting and screaming that smoking was not allowed. Now I had them all the doctors and the nurses and other personal. Yes I said, I know but this is the only mean I found to get your attention, and as you can see my friend really needs help.

And then I got what I wanted thanks to a cigarette. One nurse threw the cigarette away and the doctor came and ordered to bring my friend for medical examination.

I waited outside for the results and then the doctor finally arrived and told me that it had been about time to bring her to the hospital I That was the summit ! I told him to watch the ER series on TV where he could see that everybody was running around and safe lives, while here they make coffee breaks and let people die and I had to lit a cigarette to get some attention ! In fact I told him smoking doesn't kill, but saves lives. The doctor had humour, he laughed and told me that now I shouldn't worry anymore about my friend and that he would watch the ER series, with a twinkle in his eyes. 

Conclusion, if you need attention in a hospital just light a cigarette, even if you are not smoking !

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A NIGHT WITH INTERRUPTIONS

Sometimes my nights are very agitated. Not like you might think, but according to my vintage age !

Yesterday night I woke up because I heard a loud snoring in my room ! I was a bit surprised, because Mr. G. doesn't snore anymore since he started to talk and fight with to me unknown people and that in all languages. Old cat Pookie too has started to curr like a pigeon in her dreams, it's a strange noise for a cat,  I wonder if she was dreaming to be amongst pigeons.

While trying to switch on the light,  I knocked over the water bottle on my bedside table. It wasn't closed properly so when the light went on, a big puddle was in front of my bed ! I jumped over it and checked on my two noise makers,  although talking and meowing they slept peacefully. I listened to the mumbling human, but unfortunately I couldn't understand a word.

After some investigations I found out that the snoring came from my closet. I opened it and saw cat Arthur deeply sleeping on my pajamas and snoring like a power saw ! Amazing what a loud noise came out of this compared to a human' size  rather small cat ! He didn't even wake up ! I had to touch him then he stopped, opened one eye and continued to sleep. This time without snoring.

Then I went to the kitchen to take a cleaning rag to wipe up the water in my room. Unfortunately one of my cats had barfed on the tiles and of course I had to step in it ! Some unladylike words escaped from my mouth and I hobbled into the bathroom to wash my feet. Finally I returned to bed, sighed and tried to fall asleep again which I apparently did, because when I woke up again, it was morning.  



That's exactly how Arthur snored !

PEELING ONIONS

Letter : O

I really like onions especially roasted or cooked, and I love onion soup. The only trouble is you have to peel a lot of onions and that is really a catastrophe. As soon as I start peeling, I start to cry  like mourning women which are hired in Sicily to cry on a funeral. My make up is melting and I black waterfall is running over my cheeks, which makes me look like a sad clown.

I have tried everything to avoid this crying, putting cotton wool around my glasses, peeling under running water and all other tricks and tips which were given to me. Nothing to do I still cried.

Finally I found the solution ! I draped a long shawl around my head and over my nose found a pair of diving googles from my son and put it over my eyes. I looked terrifying and was scared of myself when I saw me in the mirror. Well equipped now I started peeling and it nearly worked, my eyes still burned a bit, but it was supportable.

One day the doorbell rang and completely forgetting my strange outfit, I went to the door and opened it. It was the postman with a registered letter. The poor man stepped back when he saw me and nearly got a heart attack. But then he burst out in laughter and asked me what I am doing.

I peel onions, I said !



This is also a solution !

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NAUGHTY LITTLE GIRL

Letter : N

When I was a little girl, I always was the first one to participate to play tricks on adults.

One of my favorite was to attach a string to an empty wallet, covered the string with sand hid behind a little wall and waited until somebody came to pick it up and then I would pull the wallet away. Of course I was not alone. The people got mostly very angry and rant, while we were running away laughing !

We had an old lady living in the building where we lived, she hated kids and therefore was the ideal victim for us. One little boy had heard that cats are attracted by Valerian so we emptied a whole bottle under her window and all cats of the neighborhood came and meowed and fought making a terrible noise. Don't ask me from whom he had got the bottle.

We also loved to ring on all doorbells usually there were 6 or 8 and ran away.

At school it was not better. I didn't like my English teacher and had the good idea to put the school skeleton in her closet where she used to hang up her coat. What fun we had when she opened the door and the skeleton fell in her arms and she screamed !

I have to say that in the 50th adults were not very children friendly and we took our revenge !



The innocent girl

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HULK IN HOSPITAL

Letter : H

When our son was about 8, I got a phone call in my office from the school director, to tell me that he had fallen in the schoolyard and had been transported to the nearby Hospital, probably had a concussion and God knows what else !

I got a shock, dropped everything, informed a colleague,  took my purse, the car keys and ran as quickly as I could to my car and drove to the hospital. I imagined the worst ! When I arrived I stormed to the reception to know in which room he was. They told me a number and I took the lift which seemed to work like a snail and arrived breathless in the room. I thought I would find a half dead child, unconscious and badly injured !

I opened the door and what did I see ? A normal looking little boy, crying and sobbing loud who, when he saw me screamed : "I want my Hulk, I want my Hulk" ! It took me a little moment before I understood what he wanted. His Hulk doll ! He wasn't badly injured, he actually was in a very good shape which was confirmed by the doctor, who told me that he only had to stay in observation over night. Was I relieved ! So I hurried home, a miracle that I didn't get a ticket, picked up this dammit doll and drove back to the hospital.


The dream of all little boys end 70 beginning 80 !

As soon as my son saw his Hulk, he stopped crying gave me a big smile and put this ugly thing besides him in his bed, not before showing it proudly to the other two children who were in the same room.

From this moment on he was completely cured, spent a good night in the hospital and I could pick him up the next morning.

The day after he could return to school, but without Hulk, he remained home, I didn't take him with me to work !

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IMPRISONED IN A GRAVEYARD

Letter : G

In Germany it was normal to have a walk on a graveyard on a Sunday even if nobody is burried there they know. The graveyards I knew were very beautiful and looked like a park. I remember the one I used to go with my parents on Sundays, just for a walk when I was a child. There were a lot of trees, plants and bushes, banks to rest, and even a sandbox for children, a lot of flowers and the graves very well taken care of. It was not unusual that children ran around the graves or played "hide and seak" behind the grave stones.

So when we moved to Belgium in 1959 I thought the graveyards would look the same and one afternoon after school I went with a friend just for a walk and to have a look on Belgian graveyards. Already at the entrance the warden gave us a suspicious look, he probably wondered what two young giggling girls are doing on a graveyard.

Of course the graves and the whole yard were completely different as the once we were used to, there were no trees or any green grass or bushes, all graves were covered with grey stone plates, sometimes in marble, without or with artificial flowers. It all looked sad and grey.

So we went from grave to grave to look at the old photos on the gravestones and then found steps leading into a crypt, containing little compartments just like safes in a bank. From far away we heard a bell, several times but didn't pay attention. Then we had enough it was really too spooky in here and it got already dark. We decided to go back.

Of course we got lost and couldn't find the exit, so we stumbled between the graves on the grey gravel and tried to find our way out. It was a quite strange situation but we were not afraid of any ghosts coming out of the graves, we even found this very funny and laughed and giggled all the way long. Finally we saw street lamps and the gate. We wanted to go out, but the gate was locked. Nobody there, the warden was gone too ! We started to call at people on the street, but they just looked at us with big eyes, thought probably we were joking or were mad and just walked by. We couldn't even explain our situation because both of us spoke very little French at that time !

Finally an elderly man, came to the gate and asked what happened. We tried to explain him that we were locked in and couldn't get out ! He laughed said something and disappeared. It was hopeless ! But shortly after he came back with a policeman.

To get us out of our unwanted prison, the policeman tried to get hold of a somebody of the municipality, but of course all offices were already closed in the City Hall. Finally he found somebody but this person didn't have the keys. Another policeman arrived and other people started to gather around the gate and we looked like prisoners behind bars ! They were all laughing and one lady gave us an apple ! I asked for an orange. They discussed together where to find the key of the graveyard gate to get us out. The gate was far to high to climb over it and the cimetary was surrounded by a high walls too as if people were afraid that white dressed corpses would want to get out !

Finally a breathless old man arrived shaking a bunch of keys ! He looked them through, one by one, found the right key, opened the gate and we walked out. We were greeted with laughter and "ahs" and "ohs" like long lost friends and some people even applauded ! The two policemen found it less funny and took us both to the police station. That was the first (but not the last) time I had been in one. We had to make an official statement, how and why we got locked in and we told them in our poor French, that we hadn't paid attention to the ringing bell, and that we also didn't know what it was ! They didn't inform our parents and let us go and
this was good, because knowing our fathers they would have been very upset with the policemen and the warden of the graveyard and not at all with us, because for them a graveyard was an open place to walk around and enjoy ! If only they would have known how the Belgian graveyards looked like ! We had just arrived in Belgium.

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THE EARTHQUAKE

Letter : E

I was laying on the beach, the sun was shining, it was warm and I felt so good ! I heard the sound of the waves. Suddenly the ground started to shake and I swang back and forth on  my beachbed ! Something heavy dropped on my belly. Rubble ?  Fear came over me I tried to open my eyes but I couldn't ! I hardly could breath, I panicked and sat up.

It was dark around me, and I shivered. Suddenly I realized that I wasn't laying on a beach, but in my bed in my room ! I switched on the light and saw cat Arthur sitting on my belly, scratching himself vigorously ! He had jumped on my belly so that I thought a rock had hit me and his scratching made my bed or rather mattress shaking as if it was an earthquake ! That at least was what I imagined because I never had experienced one.

Very relieved I fell back on my pillows and pushed my nearly 6 kg (13 lbs) heavy cat from my belly. The earthquake stopped immediately and a very offended cat disappeared through the door !



Arthur the earthquake !

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NEW GRANDMAS

WEEKEND FUNNIES - Action dreams

With Gattina & Shakira.

Just do a funny post, something which makes us laugh that's the most important.

And of course there also is



here at Me & My Memes


In the middle of a night I woke up because of a big booommm with the impression that the whole house was shaking. Mr. G. once again had fallen out of his bed. I switched on the light and looked into his room where I found him sitting on the floor like a roman imperior with the bedlinen draped around his neck and body blinking at me blinded by the light. The bedside table had slid against the wardrobe and a few Ferraris lay on the bed which had fallen from the shelf above the bed. In the middle sat cat Pookie with eyes like saucers obviously very offended.

I asked him what happened. He told me that he had tried to save Ines, because she had slipped and was falling down the steps to the basement.

Ines ??? I tried to remember, she died at least 25 years ago, was one of his aunts in Italy who sat like a fat bee queen in her appartment and received family members who hoped to get some of her money when she died.

Mr. G. tried to gather his bones and got up with the grace of an elephant and sat on his bed. Apparently he had tried to catch her in his arms, had jumped and fallen out of his bed. I told him that he was lucky that he didn't get her he would be flat like a pancake by now due to her weight.

Last time he fell out of his bed and I was disturbed in my precious beauty sleep, he had tried to hide behind a bush because somebody shot at him and of course he had landed on the floor where no bush was growing.

Since he is retired, he has action dreams.

THE BIRD

Mr. G had a very nice idea, he bought a little bird which should great our visitors with a joyful chirp.



The bird once installed on a cabinet in front of the door, did indeed it's duty, it chirped, but not when I opened the door to great the visitors but when they were already in the house and took their coats off. Which always caused a little shock of surprise and laughter when they saw that it was only a little ceramic bird. Maybe in ceramic, but with character.

It showed it the day the sun was shining for the first time since weeks but there were also clouds pushed by the wind which moved along the sky. And little birdie started to chirp each time when a cloud obscured the sun.

First time Mr. G and I sitting peacefully at our computers accused each other to have moved and made the bird chirp, but we both were innocent and like Miss Marple I concluded that the culprit was the sun. After 2 h of chirping, silence, chirping I had enough and thought I will find a place where it doesn't "see" the clouds. I could have turned it off or take out the battery but no, I wanted to show it who was the master.



I put it high up on my vitrine with all my cats and thought now it won't dare to chirp anymore or only when I open the door. But the bird thought otherwise and continued to welcome the clouds with its joyful chirps.



I put it besides the toilet on a little cabinet, where it shouldn't see the clouds but it must have very good eyes because it continued to chirp and as there were many clouds going by we both felt a little nervous. Finally I found the ideal place !



In the basket on the floor, where he still could greet eventual visitors but wouldn't see the clouds ! I put him there, besides the cat sitting in the basket to calm him down a little and it worked ! Clouds came and went by and the bird didn't make a sound.

Peace was again over the house. But not for long ! The bird chirped again ! It couldn't be the sun and nobody was in the entrance ! and then I realized ... now he chirps each time a cat goes by ! I think he won, I have to take the batteries off and great our visitors myself with a chirp.

MRS. SMITH OR MRS. JONES ? Living under a false name

Last year in August I had applied for a new passport and after some administration difficulties, (all public institutions have to invent new once, to make it a little more complicated) I finally thought now it was settled and I could get my new passport. But not at all ! There was another complication, I had the wrong name ! I was travelling since 40 years under a false name. I felt like a spion, a modern Mata Hari, how interesting !

From my birth til I married Mr. G my name was Jones. The day of my wedding I became Mrs. Smith. With the marriage certificate I went to the German embassy in Brussels to change officially from single life to a married woman. I got a new passport with the name of Mrs. Smith. For Belgium however I still was Mrs. Jones, as, according to Belgian law women keep their maiden name for all public documents. I always had to pay attention that my flight tickets were on the name of Mrs Smith (like on my passport) and not Mrs. Jones like on my driver licence. With that I lived happily for 40 years until the German embassy realized that I had the wrong name on my passport.

They called me to inform me that 40 years ago an employee had made a mistake, because according to Italian law (and Mr. G is Italian) I should have kept my maiden name Mrs Jones and that's why they couldn't make a new passport. I told them friendly that I didn't give a sh..t about my name, and they can take what they like but I want a passport and not travelling with the temporary one they meanwhile had given. With that one I would never be able to go to the States because my passport picture which showed a not smiling (that's a must, to make a difference between you and smiling terrorists) Mrs. Smith (not Jones) with a brown face, yellow hairs and two dark spots which once had been my eyes. This happened in September and after that I never heard from them again.

Last week finally I called them and asked what happened to my passport and which name they finally had choosen. The passport responsible was very upset, she couldn't find my file and no passport either and wanted to call me back. I thought the world is getting crazy and waited for a phone call. And I got it 2 days ago ! My passport was ready, but filed under my maiden name Jones and as I had applied for a new passport with my married name Mrs. Smith, they also got confused.

End of the story : After exactly 40 years I got my maiden name back and made a cross on Mrs. Smith ! Apparently in Germany too, now the woman keeps her maiden name from birth on unless she does a special apply for her husbands name ! There is no need to send flowers for Mrs. Smith !



Above is the temporary one in green as Mrs. Smith and below the new one as Mrs. Jones !

Previous posts about my passport adventure

Getting a new German passport

Rebirth for a new birth certificate

*****
Maxine on Saturday

I let Maxine speak !

Please go to The Teach to find more "Maxine on Saturday"