Dear LPG,

Never before in our lifetimes have we been part of such a stay-at-home world.  For me that has a lot to do with the fact that holidays and travelling have never been that important and as I have got older, the need to go to new places and see new things has lost its appeal. 

I think that our televisions, computers and smartphones can take us to so many places these days without our need to get a bundle of new outfits to wear, packing all that stuff, finding ways of carrying all that luggage, working out what to do with your pets and worrying about which foods are going to upset your stomachs this year.  

I think that the major pastime of 2020 will be recorded as telephone and video calling friends because of the amount of time we have spent doing just that, and having shared phone calls with so many friends that I have not heard from, and perhaps would not have but for the effect of the ‘stay at home pandemic’, has reminded me that we only really miss some things when we are told that we are not allowed to use or do them.

There are no two ways about it, retirement has made me lazy.  The luxury of not having to get up early to get to work is something I particularly looked forward to before I stopped working and, during the past 12 years of retirement I have taken full advantage of that privilege and valued it greatly until the government said that no one was allowed to leave home let alone the country; all be it for our own good.

We all know that passports are the ultimate ticket to anywhere these days, and most pensioners who started life abroad and settled here are likely to keep theirs up to date.  It is true that most agencies that might need proof of identity will accept so many other documents these days, they vary so much but even if you are not planning a trip, I still think that a passport is often one of the big three ways of proving you are you.  Along with a driver’s licence and birth certificate there is little space for misinterpretation when it comes to those three.  At my time of life, I no longer have the need for my own set of wheels which only leaves two, and you never know when you might be called on for identification at the bank or by some government agency.   

I just want to remind readers that if yours has run out it is still worth renewing it.  It may be unlikely that you ever will, but you never know when you might need to leave the country. 

These days it costs £75.50, and you can even do it online (if you are willing to pay an extra £10.00).  But did you know that this piece of identification can be renewed for free if you are over 90. The process can be a bit of a business, but for us older people perhaps it just might be worth renewing even if there is nowhere in the world that you plan to visit right now.

CT, Brockley

LPG found some related information…

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