License to Thrill

About 10 days ago my Dad reminded me that the plates on my truck would expire June 30th. Huh.


I've been here just over 6 weeks and I hadn't made headway to getting my new license and registration for the truck because I was waiting for my name change certificate to come. I finally called last week to find out where it was.



Well, as with anything government there's just no way it can go smoothly. Apparently, besides almost naming me Tazmin Hart, the Registry also got my address wrong. I used to live at 1820 but he put 1802 so my mail went nowhere. It was not returned and they though that was odd. Ah innocent government employees who don't break the law perhaps don't realize that non-gov't employees don't give a rat's ass about tossing other people's mail.



So the Registry *finally* called to let me know to send a letter asking them to request a Legal Name Change Certificate from Vital Statistics on my behalf. I was starting to panic a little so today I decided to just go and get my new license anyway and hopefully I could get my truck registered in the next week or so rather than risk a ticket for driving an unregistered vehicle.



The only registry here is in a most ridiculous location but I found it easily thanks to my mom's directions. The parking lot was full to the brim and not surprisingly the waiting area was packed. I asked someone what number was up, she pointed - number 133. Ah well, I went to the number dispensing machine and was about to press the button when I noticed a ticket sitting on top of the machine. Thinking someone had just dumped it there as garbage I picked it up. 137. Hmmm. I doubled checked the number on the "Now Serving" board and it had just flipped to 134. Sweet.



I waited about 10 minutes and my number was called. I'm pretty sure there were some surprised people who'd been there longer than me. I sent a silent thanks to the person who got sick of waiting and instead of taking their number with them, they put it back on the ticket machine.

Turns out I could get everything I needed today. New driver's license, registration for the truck, and a new license plate. No more driving illegally.

Now I just have to get my insurance sorted, get the truck inspected and I'll be completely legal in this province. Then I just have to get all my documents changed over to my new last name. I bet that will be another round of fun and frustration with various institutions.