Licence Hassles and Dramas

Gosh this was such a trying task to do. So, my Western Australian driver's licence was about to expire...i had only a wk left. In WA, we were all able to renew our drivers licence at any post office branch, ya? Here i was, a dumb fool, thinking that all states are the same - so i could just pop in to a branch and renew it... I rocked up at a post office near my work place one lunch time and found out otherwise. "No, no. You gotta renew it at RTA (NSW's motor registry). You can't do it here..." So that day i did some asking around to see if there's an RTA near where i work..surely enough there was and it was within walking distance. A colleague at work said he happens to know a guy working at RTA and he rang up to explain my situation, that is, i needed to renew my WA licence or to obtain a NSW licence - he didnt mention anything about proof of residency etc. So the next day i managed to find my way to RTA, ripped the ticket off the ticket machine and sat and waited and waited...and waited...(this lunch over time was coming off my work hours' pay) Finally my number was called. i walked up to the counter and was met with disappointment. "No, i can't do it for you. I need to sight this and that and this...and you need to fill out this..." Allllrrriiiggghhtttyy then... i asked "Are you guys open on the weekends?" "oh yes, on saturdays and only till 12 noon" "thats's fantastic..." So basically i wasted my lunch time and then some... i planned to fill out everything and provide all the necessary documents as proof and then return on saturday - but this time to the city branch as its closer to home. Come saturday, i was kicking and pushing Fang to roll him out of bed at 9.30am...he lurvess his sleep in's too...it had to be early as we had a meeting with the home loan lender at 11am. So we drove into town and found a parking right infront of RTA...yay! (paid for it too) only to discover that it was closed. "Open Monday to Friday 9am-4pm" it says. D'oh...ok, no sweat...fine, next saturday we will drive down to a suburban RTA branch... On Tuesday i called in sick...i was sick...i really was, but then i thought "hey i got this one day off...i've got to go renew that damn licence..." So i rugged up in my warmest clothes and strolled into town. I was there early in the morning...to beat the lunch time rush. Armed with my documents and watever else...i took a ticket and sat down. Not 5 mins into sitting down (the seat didnt even get a chance to warm up!) the fire alarm sounded! Just my luck Ok, nobody stood up...for about 10 mins..so i continued sitting thinking that it cant be that bad....no one has left yet... Then the thick smell of smoke started to fill the room....this was when the office workers started shooing everyone out! We were all ushered across the road to safety. That's when we could see smoke pouring out from the adjacent train station Wynyard. Hmm, this looks bad i thought to myself. i waited for a bit, hoping that it wasnt that big of a deal and that it would be safe to go back in...but smoke keep pouring out and more and more Big Reds pulled up..and ambulances. I must have waited around for an hour and a half before calling Fang to meet him for lunch. By this stage i was thinking...why is life making it so hard for me to get a damn license?? In the end, i did get my licence renewed...i am now officially a legal NSW driver (not that i am driving - but its the only photo ID i've got in my wallet)...and i've got the mugshot to prove it :p