Spoiler alert

I wrote to my MP this week. Which involved finding out who my MP was, but once I had uncovered this information I wrote him a very stern letter. This is not something I do very often. The last time I wrote to my MP was when I was 24 and for some reason I was sent a House Of Commons birthday card wishing me a “Happy 18th Birthday”. I wrote back thanking him for the waste of paper and reassuring him that I hadn’t been voting for him for the last six years and had no intention of starting now. But my complaint this time was issue based and I hope that it will be taken to the highest court in the lands. Perhaps it could be called “Laura’s Law”. The complaint is this: it costs £72 to renew an adult passport. Which is obscene, but it’s made worse by the fact that it is the same price to get a brand new passport.

I am outraged. I’m sure the last time I renewed my passport it was a lot cheaper. For some reason I have £26 in my head but I’m pretty sure that’s not right, perhaps that’s how much a passport on the black market costs, something I may have to resort to. The thing is (and this is what makes it so annoying) is that I have no choice! There is no comparethepassport.com, I either pay it or I don’t leave the country. And it gives me the opportunity to get rid of a passport photo where I look like a drug smuggling pre op. And I have to leave the country. Not because I am on the run but for a wonderful, magical reason which shall be told below….

Now spoiler alert: this story ends in YOU going “Wowwwww”.

My friend Tara and I have planned to go to New York for the last ooooh 3 years or so and we have never actually managed to do it. Mainly for budgetary reasons and me being completely unable to organise anything. However we decided that this November we are going to do it. Obviously we have to do it on a budget so we were looking at places to stay in drug dens and brothels and looking in to flight with DeathAir. So far so normal. Then I come back from lunch yesterday to many missed calls on my mobile from Tara and several instant messages saying “why don’t you answer your phone?” (it’s true, I don’t. I never answer it. Ever). Rang Tara back and it turns out she’s won a trip to New York for two and she’s taking me with her.

I know, I know. If it was a storyline in Neighbours you wouldn’t believe it. But it’s TRUE. It’s in conjunction with Disney so I am quite hoping to get a free pair of Mickey Mouse ears thrown in. Apparently Tara went to the cinema just to look up times and saw a huge poster saying “Win a trip to New York with The Proposal”, so she entered and she won. I kind of feel obliged to go and see the film now. There is an underlying fear for both of us that this trip is designed for a couple and we are desperately hoping we won’t have to recreate proposal scenes around New York landmarks. But to be honest for a free trip to New York I would dance around New York with David Mellor on my arm.

So yeah, still waiting to hear about the details but NEW YORK BABY. And with the money I have saved on flights etc I can get my stupid passport renewed and pump enough money in to the stupid photo booth to get a decent photo to go in the passport.