I actually don’t know where to start this story…. 2 years and 3 months ago I got married….I opted to revert back to my maiden name (not because there was anything wrong with Wouter’s surname - I hastily add - I just quite like my own). I have subsequently learnt to regret the decision not because I want to have Wouter’s surname (nothing wrong with it, remember) but because the world just CANNOT cope with a woman not taking on her husband’s name.
Latest story to add to my fast becoming a 12 volume set of “Would everyone just let me keep my own name” book.
Three days ago I find a pink slip stuck to my driver’s window….. illegible writing says something about ‘failure to display’. Now where I park one has to have a permit which is clearly visible in my window…. I assume the twit handing out fines hasn’t seen it and rant and rave about how stupid the traffic department is. Next day… same thing… pink slip… illegible writing “failure to display’. By now I’m seriously miffed and start to write a snotty letter to the traffic department listing their errors when I notice something on the slips….. oops…. aaaaaaaaah so that’s why I’m being fined…. my license has expired. I freely admit I felt a bit of a twit.. and mentally apologised to the traffic department.
Hot footing it down to the traffic department to renew my license (never having actually received a renewal notice.. apparently that is merely a courtesy) I get told by the woman behind the counter that I can’t renew it until I can bring proof that I am actually who I say I am and that the surname on their system is in fact me. The twit at the bank who registered my vehicle decided I’d obviously taken my husband’s name….and so put Wouter’s surname down and not mine. I showed her my ID book, I showed her my passport….. I told her I’d gone back to my maiden name…. I get told… “when people get married in *this* country they take their husbands name” I then get told I should have got an ID book in his name…. but that isn’t my name!! Do I have my marriage certificate with me? Nope….so back to work I go - having to stop off at a shoe shop along the way to buy flat shoes as I couldn’t walk any further in the high heels I was originally wearing. Came to my car at the end of the day…. pink slip number 3.
So now I’m R900.00 in debt to the traffic department and am still driving an unlicensed vehicle… thinking I’d make my life easier I find my marriage certificate and taking all documentation try the local traffic department. Marriage certficiate isn’t good enough… ‘cos it says ‘maiden surname’ - again I get told how in *this* country women take their husbands surnames. I’m starting to get really really upset. I then get told I have to provide proof of who I am. Um I thought that was what an ID book was supposed to do? Evidently not….no I have to go to home affairs and ask them to provide me with proof of who I am…. are you friggen kidding me??????
Getting to home affairs I once again explained the situation and asked the woman behind the counter how I go about proving I am who I am.. she doesn’t know. She suggested I speak to the supervisor, explaining the situation again the supervisor (who I might add felt obliged to first finish discussing some juice gossip with a colleague before helping me) suggested I fill out a form for a marriage certificate. When I asked her if that would be sufficient - she helpfully said “I hope so”. Back to the counter….. explain the situation again to the bloke behind the counter…. he looks a bit doubtful…types in my ID number and then goes…”oh you went back to your maiden name”. Doh! (At this point if he’d started on about how women in *this* country, I think I would have killed him) he then frowns and goes off to check something…. turns out he was concerned that by my going back to my maiden name it would somehow have caused Wouter to have to take on my name. By this stage.. nothing would have surprised me.
Marriage certificate in hand I go back to the Cape Town traffic department and hand over the whole mess to the girlie behind the counter. Five minutes later I have a license and my details have been changed…. I’m still 3 pink slips in arrears but I do have 10 certified copies of my marriage certificate.
I’m also in need of a very stiff drink.
Isn’t that a pretty sight? I have to say the kids were so excited when I told them we bought a new door - they thought we’d finally got around to getting a bedroom door, sorry kids…. it’s just a new front door.
