The increasing necessity for ID verification documents...

When we lived in the UK - nearly three decades ago! - we had a joint sterling bank account which we used for all our income and outgoings. We did have a 'savings' account too, but it rarely had anything much in it. And a credit card, which was useful when there was a cash flow problem.

When we moved to Cyprus towards the end of 1997, we opened a joint account at a local bank here. It was originally in Cyprus pounds, but then, seamlessly, moved to euros at the start of 2008. Each month we had an automatic transfer set up from our UK account to our Cyprus account via one of the reputable online transfer places. And the amount we transferred, which was the majority of our regular income, just about covered bills, utilities, insurances etc in Cyprus. Extra generous gifts and donations allowed us to travel to the UK once a year, and a few other luxuries. 

When we arrived here, colleagues told us that we shouldn't have mail sent to our street address, as the postal system was notoriously unreliable. They all used a PO Box address instead. For a while we used that one too, and then we started to lease our own. And we made sure that our bank statements and utility bills went to the PO Box. 

Early in 2004, my last grandparent died. She was 96. Some months later we received a generous legacy from her. That, and other circumstances during that year, and 2005, made us decide that we would sell our house in the UK which had been used by one of the local churches. The lady living there at the time wanted to buy it, so the timing was perfect. And we had my grandmother's gift to use as a deposit on a house here. 

In 2006, we sold our house in the UK, after some months of uncertainty, and bought the house in Cyprus where we are still living. And since it was Richard who met the vendor to transfer our utility bills, it was Richard's name that was associated with them. It was still quite a patriarchal society, and he was much more comfortable dealing with utility board officials than I was. 

Fast forward to 2020. A year that stands out in most people's memories, when there were lockdowns, and uncertainties, and nobody knew what was going to happen. Our UK debit cards expired, and they wouldn't send new ones to Cyprus. We had used various family members' addresses in the UK for mailing, and collected them when we visited. But in 2020, no travelling was allowed. International post was either non-existent or delayed. We could access our bank account online, and make transfers, but we didn't have a card to make online payments in sterling. And sometimes we needed to do that. 

Richard had already opened a multi-currency online account for times when he travelled for his ministry, and he suggested I open one too, at least as a temporary measure. The process was easy, and while I didn't use it much at first, I gradually realised that it was quite convenient to have a separate account where I could move money between currencies at an excellent rate, and which allowed text 'notes' added to each transaction, to help me keep track. 

A couple of years ago Richard started receiving his UK state pension. We were able to stop relying on gifts from churches and friends. We found, for the first time in our lives, that we had what is sometimes called 'disposable income'. We give some away, of course, but we also transfer an amount every month to each of our multi-currency accounts. 

Then...

On Saturday morning a week ago, the multi-currency account sent me an email, and also notified me in the account when I logged in, that they needed to verify my street address. They didn't say why.  They wanted me to upload a recent utility bill or bank statement, with my full name and street address. They told me I had until June 28th to do this. 

But I didn't have any of the documents they wanted. As explained above, our utility bills were all in Richard's name, as is our equivalent to council tax. Our Cyprus bank account still had the PO Box address on statements, even though everything now comes via email rather than in the post. 

So I uploaded the annual sewage bill, which, for some reason, is in my name. 

But that was rejected because it was dated November 2024. 

So then I uploaded a recent Cyprus bank statement.

That was rejected because it didn't have our street address. 

Then I uploaded an electricity bill which has our street address, and that was rejected because it wasn't in my name. 

So I emailed customer support, uploading all three of these documents again, plus my 'yellow slip' which has my full name and street address. I explained what the problem was, and asked if a human could put together the information on these four documents, and verify manually rather than relying on the automated requirements.

The customer support person was very friendly, and seemed to understand the issue. They said that what I needed to do was take a photo of the electricity bill next to my husband's ID, and send them that. And they would forward it on to the verification department. 

It didn't quite make sense - I didn't see how that could verify who I am! -  but I did what they asked. They thanked me, and said that if there was still any problem, they would get in touch again, and make some more suggestions.

 
We realised that this issue was likely to come up again, so we decided to change one of our water bills into my name, to preempt future problems of this nature. Since our house is in two parts, we have two sets of both water and electricity bills. So on Monday morning we went into the Water Board. 

It's greatly updated since the last time we were there, which was probably nearly twenty years ago. Instead of queueing, we were given a ticket with a number, and sat down in the air conditioned waiting area. Eventually - after about half an hour - our turn came up. After checking the IDs we took in, and our house deeds,  the helpful lady on the desk changed the account over from Richard's name to mine. 

Not that it was any use for the current issue, as we paid the last water bill and the next one isn't due until August. But she printed out a sort of non-invoice, saying we owed them nothing, but giving my name and the street address.

On Tuesday morning at 8.00am I had an email saying that the latest upload - the one showing Richard's ID next to our electricity bill - was also rejected, though they didn't say why. As before, it gave a link to upload something else. So I tried to do so... 

And saw a rather terse notification that my account was closed. It said that they thought I had been using it in inappropriate ways, whatever that means.

So much for having until 28th June! They did say they would refund all the money, but it has been so very convenient having this multi-currency account. I was not happy. I was, in fact, extremely stressed. I hated the idea that I had done something wrong and didn't even know what it was. 

Feeling frustrated, I opened the 'YouBible' app on my phone, and saw the verse of the day:

'Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you' (I Peter 5:7). 

The verses of the day often seem quite random, but this one felt as if it was specifically for me. Not that it was easy to cast my anxieties, but I did feel slightly more peaceful, and tried to trust that, whatever happened, God was in charge.

 
I emailed customer support again. I sent them the non-invoice from the Water Board. 

I could see that I had the option to appeal my account closure. But when I clicked the link to appeal, the first thing I had to upload was... a document that I didn't have. As I had already explained. 

Given that banks have worldwide reporting, I was also a bit concerned that this might put our other accounts at risk. Although I was doing my best not to be too anxious. 

I didn't hear back from customer support until some hours later, and they said they were sorry to hear that this had happened, they didn't know what had triggered it, and they recommended that I appeal and upload whatever documents I thought might help, including the non-invoice from the Water Board.

I didn't want to rush into it. And Richard thought it would be a good idea to get our bank statements showing our street address. I also remembered that our house insurance bill is due around now, and that has both our names on it. 

So on Thursday morning, we walked to the bank. A helpful, friendly man on the desk examined our documents, understood our problem, and - after filling in a lot of different fields on his computer - told us that future statements would show our street address rather than the PO Box. But nothing will change on statements until the next one is generated... at the end of June.  However, he did print out some of the relevant documentation that showed our names and address. He and Richard were chatting like old friends by this stage, and would probably have continued doing so if I hadn't pointed out that a queue was starting to form behind us. 

When we got home, Richard phoned the insurance brokers. They said that, yes, they could generate a new invoice, but for some reason they couldn't email it to him. But if we were willing to go there, we could sign and collect it. So off we went in the car, and eventually found the right office. For the first twenty years or so that we lived in Cyprus, the broker came to our house, and we signed the papers here, and wrote him a cheque. For the past few years, it's all happened via email and online payments. So this was the first time we had actually been to the office.

Once again it was quite slow, punctuated by general chat, and without the benefit of air conditioning. But eventually we left, with an invoice that showed both our names, our street address, AND a recent date. Insurance wasn't mentioned as one of the possible documents that the appeal accepted, but I wanted to upload as many possibilities as I could manage. 

The insurance brokers' office is very close to where the Electricity Board used to be. And Richard thought we might as well get my name changed on one of those bills, too. So we found where the new offices are, and they had a similar process to the water board. Our ticket said we should expect to wait 17 minutes. In the event it was over 40 minutes, but eventually we were seen. Again it seemed to take a long time to do something which seemed quite straightforward to us. But at last it was done. And

they gave me a stamped verification that one of the electricity bills is now in my name. 

That afternoon, I scanned the new documents, and clicked the 'appeal' button. It allowed me to upload up to ten documents, which is good, as I had eight of them to send. There was a brief hiatus where everything appeared to upload, and then crashed. But Richard pointed out that some of the scanned documents were quite large, and the total upload was over 30 megabytes. So I scanned the larger ones again, and this time they were taken. None of the documents was exactly what was asked for, and I didn't hold out a whole lot of hope. It said that they would take up to 15 days to process them. 

Half an hour later, I received an apology email saying my account was reinstated. 

Alleluia!

But... there was still a red notification in my account telling me I needed to upload a recent utility bill in my name, and that I must do so by the end of June. Which, of course, I could not do. 

So I got in touch with customer services again. And I also made sure to download all the statements from the account, and details of exactly how much I had in each currency, and other information which I thought I might have lost. 

To my tremendous relief, about twelve hours later I had another message from customer support saying my documents were accepted, and the red notification should have gone. Which, indeed, it had. 

I was very thankful. 

As Shakespeare put it, all's well that ends well....

Except that, just after my bank account was reinstated, I had an email from GESY, the Cyprus equivalent of the NHS. It said they need to recheck that I'm still eligible, and that they do this routinely every few years. 

The email said I had to print out a form, and fill it in, and scan it, and send it back, along with my ID, Richard's ID, our marriage certificate....and a year's worth of utility bills that show my name.

Sigh. 

Another empty Cyprus shop

Last November, I wrote about the increasing number of empty shops that were appearing in our neighbourhood. This was long before the dramatic banking crisis that hit the international headlines in March - the economy of Cyprus has been going downhill for a long time.

I was, however, encouraged to note (back in November) that a recently-closed fruit shop close to where we live seemed to have re-opened as a mini-market:

I did visit it once or twice, although I can't say I was very impressed. There didn't seem to be much choice, and the prices weren't great. And then I didn't really think about it... until I noticed that it, too, had closed down:

I'm not surprised, although I didn't think the owners would discover quite so quickly that yet another mini-market simply wasn't viable. But perhaps they simply didn't attract any customers.

People still need to buy groceries, and our favourite supermarket (Metro) seems to be doing well, as is the excellent fruit shop (Achna) which I visit at least three times per week. I just hope they continue to do so... 

Cyprus banking crisis: an update (of sorts)

It's almost a week since we woke up to the news that the Cyprus government was planning to take a 'levy' on all deposits in banks, up to almost 10% for those with more than €100,000.  

It was a topic of discussion wherever we went; some people shrugged and said that those with large amounts of money could afford to give some to the government. Some felt that foreign investors, who benefit from low tax rates, should certainly contribute. But it all seemed very unfair on the ordinary Cypriots and ex-pats, with much smaller amounts in our accounts, having to fund the almost collapsing banks from our own pockets. It's not as if we make any interest these days - nothing at all on current accounts in Cyprus. 

Moreover, one of the main reasons that Cyprus is in such financial trouble is that it helped to bail out Greece - and the Greek people did not have to forfeit any kind of levy.  

By the time the vote was taken in parliament on Tuesday, the plan had been adjusted slightly, so that those of us with less than €20,000 in our accounts would be exempt from a levy.  However, there were protests going on around the island, and clearly the government were listening to the people... so the proposed levy was rejected.  Not even by a close vote: 19 people abstained, 26 voted against. Nobody was in favour. 

Cue lots of rejoicing....

... Except that this potentially pushes Cyprus into a much bigger problem.  The banks were supposed to open again on Wednesday, but three further days of bank holiday were declared. E-banking is frozen, to stop people moving their money abroad, or to different accounts. We can't even pay utility bills online at the moment. 

By Wednesday, Richard was getting concerned. I don't keep much cash in the house - I take some out at the start of each month to cover petrol and local grocery shopping, but we were over half-way through March, and I had about €60 left. He was worried that the banks might close indefinitely, and I did realise that we might have to pay our phone bill at the end of the month in cash.  We were safe from a levy - or so it seemed - but if, as now is possible, the banking system collapses entirely, would we lose everything?

So we went to the ATM at our bank, half-expecting a lengthy queue. There was one person who left as we walked up to it, and it dispensed money as normal. I really don't like carrying more than the minimum cash around, but it's certainly preferable to having none at all. 

Then we drove to Metro, and bought some things with long shelf-life - such as cat litter, and toilet rolls, and instant coffee.  We used our debit card to pay, and it was accepted without problem.

Was the press over-reacting, we wondered? Were the Cypriots and ex-pats in general assuming everything would be all right in the end? Was this a rational decision, or head-in-the-sand?  The banks were closed to stop huge withdrawals of money which could lead to disaster, but it seemed a bit strange that the population were not queuing up to take at least a few hundred euros of their money out, to have safe.  Should the banks collapse, or indeed if Cyprus decides to leave the eurozone, all money might indeed be forfeit, despite the official EU guarantee of safety for all deposits up to €100,000. 

Yesterday - Thursday - Richard was at some meetings in Limassol. He said that in the afternoon he noticed long queues at ATMs, particularly those of Laiki Bank, the one reputed to be nearest to collapsing. We heard from friends that they were unable to take money from an ATM, and that while their debit card was accepted in two shops, it was refused at a third. We read stories of petrol stations only accepting cash.  It seemed that there was, after all, some widespread panic.  

Meanwhile the government tried to come up with further plans to raise the five billion euros needed if the country is to receive EU support for a further ten billion. The amounts seem  phenomenal, although it did occur to me that with 750 million people in Europe altogether, just €10 per person would raise 7.5 billion.  And would be a lot fairer than heavy levies on the people of this tiny island (whose population is less than one million). 

This morning we drove down to the Post Office so I could mail some cards, and also check for an expected large parcel (which had, indeed, arrived).  As I came out, I saw that there was a small queue at the Laiki Bank ATM.  I've fuzzed out the faces, but this is a general idea of what we saw... and those prominent 'stop' signs look quite dramatic! 

Evidently people were getting cash. If Cyprus switches to the Cyprus Pound, it will probably be devalued against the euro, meaning that hard currency euros are worth more, relatively speaking. Not that I'm a banker or any kind of economist.

What will happen?  I wouldn't want to hazard a guess.  One BBC correspondent has explained some of the difficult choices that must be made.  I don't think anyone wants Cyprus to leave the eurozone, or for the banking system to collapse entirely.  I remain cautiously optimistic that some solution will be found - that, at tonight's meeting, a compromise of some sort will be found. I'm a great believer in negotiation and finding mutually acceptable solutions to problems. In this case it's impossible to please everyone; money is such a divisive subject. 

In the meantime, I'm keeping half an eye on the live update feeds from both The Telegraph and The Guardian (two UK newspapers).  The final decision should be made at a meeting this evening.....

Maybe. 

Levy on savings in Cyprus banks... Eurozone bailout?

I don't switch my computer on until after my walk, if  have one, and any necessary shopping or housework, and breakfast, and a shower... so it wasn't until about ten o'clock this morning that I sat down to check my email, and Facebook, and also the news.  Not that I'm a great one for world events, or politics.. I tend more towards human interest stories, on the whole.

But this morning, this story about Cyprus and the Eurozone bailout leapt out at me when I looked at the BBC news site. I don't begin to understand economics, but am aware that Cyprus is in huge debt - not entirely the island's fault - and that with the new government, elected recently, there was likely to be a big bailout package agreed. This appears to be the case, but according to the article 'savers' in banks - such as the Bank of Cyprus: 

Or the Laiki Bank:

are going to be subject to a one-off 'tax'.  Those with more than 100,000 euro in their accounts will have to pay almost 10%, which is rather a large amount of money at that level, and those with less will  have to pay 6.75%.  Moreover, to stop people transferring all their money out, or withdrawing it, all electronic banking is on hold for this (Carnival) weekend. Monday is a public holiday for Green Monday, and the levy will be imposed, I gather, on Tuesday morning. 

I was not clear whether this 'tax' applies just to savings accounts - in which case, we will be charged about €14 - or to current accounts, in which case it will be a bit more - but still not a great deal. We don't tend to keep much in our Cyprus account; we just transfer what we need each month from the UK. 

Having read the story at the BBC site, I then looked at the Cyprus Mail, the other place where I tend to glance at news each morning. Savers are forced to bear costs, the headline proclaimed.  The story is similar, and, again, no indication whether it's just savings (although that is perhaps implied) or all accounts.  There is a lengthy and somewhat angry comment thread at the end of that article, unsurprisingly.  It does seem like an odd thing, legally speaking, to be able to deduct money from ordinary people with no warning whatsoever. However, if the alternative was for the banks to become bankrupt and lose everything, it's certainly a lesser problem. 

I am surprised to learn that apparently about half the Cyprus savers are non-resident Russians, who will be contributing a large amount of this 'tax'.  Perhaps there are also ex-pats living here who have seen Cyprus as a tax haven - rates are low.  But there must also be people who have been saving carefully and frugally over the years, only to find that they lose a significant amount, out of the blue. Then there are small businesses, or organisations such as Richard's, who struggle to keep afloat, and who will be hit very hard indeed by this. 

Clearly it's a news story which will run for a while - other Eurozone countries are going to be worried, and if this tax is legal it's going to make a lot of people give up on banks, or withdraw all their savings, which - I would have thought - would make it still worse. 

Later news stories have reported incredulity giving way to fury in Cyprus, and shock as savers wake up to the levy.  The BBC is also reporting individual stories about the bailout. 

What mystifies me is that the reports say that levying this 'tax' is going to raise 6 billion euros.  That's a LOT of money. And since the majority is apparently going to come from people at the higher threshold, that means that 6 billion is only 10% of what is currently deposited in the banks.  

So... why are the banks supposed to be in crisis?  

A worrying moment with the bank...

On Wednesday last week, I banked some cheques. They were from another European country, and totalled around 330 euros. I knew from past experience that this amount would be 'blocked' for 21 days to allow them to clear, so our 'available balance' would be less than the 'actual balance'.

On Saturday morning, we went to the fruit shop. We bought quite a bit, so rather than handing over cash, I presented my debit card. It was refused. Twice. This occasionally happens due to bank problems, but the cashier seemed to think that there was a problem with our account. I had enough cash so I paid with that, came home, and immediately went online to check our bank balance.

To my horror, I saw that our 'available balance' showed as about minus €32,000!  I blinked, refreshed the screen... and it remained the same.

I didn't panic - well, not much - since the 'actual balance' showed roughly what I expected it to be. I quickly ran through the 'recent transactions' page to see if there was anything suspicious going on.  I couldn't see anything unexpected.

The lightbulb went on in my mind. I had banked my cheques with a fairly new cashier. I reckoned that she had somehow got confused between the decimal point and the comma. We've done it ourselves... I once tried to pay a bill of about €12.50 only to find the software asking me if I was certain I wanted to pay €1250...  I should have entered 12,50 (with a comma) rather than 12.50.

I did the calculation, assuming that for some reason the blocked amount was 100 times more than it should have been, and was pleased to see that the resulting balance would indeed show exactly the amount listed. Not that the bank system should have allowed that kind of thing to happen...

As it was the weekend, we could not go to the bank to sort it out, and telephone banking also wasn't available. Thankfully we didn't need either cash or the debit card, so this morning I went back to the bank.

I presented my case to a different cashier - a guy whom I hadn't previously met - and he saw immediately what the problem was. He found it pretty funny.

'Oh,' he said, 'thirty-two thousand negative... that's nothing. Is it a problem for you?'

I said that yes, it was a little problem, and he nodded, and chuckled again, and said that it would be a problem for the bank too.

He didn't have much idea what to do, but the cashier next to him was a very experienced, efficient and intelligent lady who's been there for years, so when she had finished dealing with someone else, I was handed over to her.

I thought that it would be as simple as removing the block on the large amount, and re-entering a block on the correct amount. Apparently not. It must have taken five minutes before she finally managed to sort it out, and then she had to make a phone call to explain what she had done.

At one point she did look up, and asked, 'Did you sleep at night?'

I said that once I'd figured out what the problem was, I wasn't worried. In fact I'd forgotten about it for most of the weekend.

She apologised for the mistake - not that it was her fault! - and I immediately went to check, in the bank ATM , whether the balance was showing correctly.

Thankfully, it was. I just hope we don't get charged interest on our apparently huge unauthorised overdraft....

Paying bills in Cyprus

When we first moved to Cyprus, we assumed we would be able to set up direct debits from our bank account for payments such as our rent, utilities, insurance, and so on. As we did, at no cost, in the UK.

Alas, nothing is that simple in Cyprus. Our landlady said a cheque in the post was the best way to pay rent. So that was all right, even if it seemed a little old-fashioned.

We lived very close to the old electricity board building. The easiest - and commonest - method of paying those (bi-monthly) bills was to go there, in person, and write a cheque. No problem.

The telephone/internet office is in town. Those bills come once a month, but we weren't too far away, so once I got used to it, I would walk down there and write a cheque for that too.

Being Cyprus, cheque books are not free; we had to pay something like five Cyprus pounds for the privilege of having each one, but still. At least it worked.

The water board appeared to be the most forward-looking organisation, and suggested we set up a direct debit with them. So we did. We were a bit puzzled that our bank statements didn't seem to show anything being taken out for the water board... and after six months, a very apologetic man arrived, telling us we hadn't paid our (quarterly) bills. So, as the water board was also fairly near our house, we cancelled the direct debit and I started writing a cheque and going there too.

Then the electricity board moved, considerably further away. I suppose it was walking distance in the winter, but my sense of direction isn't very good. I could pay the bills at the bank, but they charged 50c (old money) each time, which seemed a bit much. So we had to remember to drive to the new electricity board to pay the bills.

Then, a few years ago, the Bank of Cyprus introduced online banking. It was a little clunky, but it worked. At last, I could pay all three utility bills online. It was quick, easy, and best of all, it worked.

Insurance? Oh, that's different again. We had to use a broker. A very friendly, pleasant man calls round regularly to collect money for house, contents and car insurances. A cheque is fine. The amounts seemed very reasonable when we first came here, but have increased somewhat over the years. But he sorts it all out, deals with the paperwork, and when Richard needed to claim something on the car insurance, the broker appeared and dealt with it.

Medical insurance used to work the same way, but the representative changed to someone who preferred an automated system. So we do actually now pay that (quarterly) by direct debit. We had to pay a setup fee, slightly to my horror, but it wasn't huge. And it appears to work.

Then there are the fees for car tax. annually. At first we paid them at a seedy place near the sea-front, which someone recommended. A broker was involved, who took an extra fee. Then we realised we could pay at the 'co-operative' bank, so for some years we did. Now we can pay car taxes online, using jccsmart. That works well.

And then there's the annual sewerage payment, and another bill that we've only had since owning our own house, from the municipality. Some kind of rates, we assume. They both have to be paid by the end of November. And they can both be paid at the co-operative bank, too.

I realised recently that there's a co-op much nearer than I had realised. So today, bills and cheque book in hand, I went there.

'No cheque', said the woman on the till.

'No cheque?' I said, in some surprise. 'But I've written cheques before... why not?"

She just shrugged, and repeated 'no cheque.'.

So I said I'd go and get some cash. I did so, returned, and paid the bills. They charged 50c per bill, but I think that's less than our own bank would have charged.

I came home, and decided to pay the phone/internet bill.

Unfortunately... the Bank of Cyprus have 'migrated' some customers, including me, to a new internet banking system. It won't work at all in Safari, my current favourite browser.

I couldn't get it to work in Firefox, either, the first few attempts. Then finally the login screen loaded correctly and I was in.

This 'new' system is horrible. It's not obvious how it works, and it's SO SLOW. Each page takes at least a minute to load. I finally managed to pay the CYTA bill - at least, I hope so - and then thought I'd look at the current transactions page, to check it had gone through.

I tried to get there before I started typing this post, about fifteen minutes ago.

Firefox is STILL 'transferring data....'.

I had thought that paying bills online at the bank's online system was straightforward and quick.

It would almost have been quicker to walk into town and back...

Life in Cyprus gets back to normal

Last week a strange kind of rash developed on my face, from about Monday until Sunday. I bumped into a friend in the local supermarket, and some other people we know in Metro on Friday. And we had friends over for a meal Friday evening. All of them stared at me in horror and asked what on earth I had done. Thankfully it started to fade on Sunday and is mostly gone by now.

I feel just about back to normal, like life in general. On Saturday I ironed the Christmas tablecloths and packed them away. On Sunday Richard finished the last of the Christmas cake, so I cleaned the large container and put that away.

Also on Sunday, our first guests of the year arrived to stay in our downstairs flat. They are an American couple who used to live in Larnaka and belonged to our house group. They've been in the US for a while and will shortly be returning to where they currently live in the Middle East.

On Monday I went to the Post Office as usual, and then to the first meeting of the year for the Larnaka Christian Writers' Association. In the afternoon I did the accounts, and caught up with email... and we hit a problem with our UK online banking, which Richard tried (in vain) to solve in the evening, at great length. We had some friends over for a meal, and I used up the last of our mincemeat making a mincemeat upside-down cake for dessert.

This morning I went to Tots, the mother-and-toddler group where I help out in the kitchen. At lunchtime, Richard spent considerable time on the phone being passed from pillar to post around our UK bank, being told different stories and still not restoring access to our online banking. It was mid-afternoon before he finally got through to someone who actually did what he could to help. Whether or not it will remains to be seen.

Tim sent me a report to proof-read, and I caught up with more email, blog-reading, Facebook applications, and so on.

The weather is still chilly, no more than about 15C during the daytime, but a great deal pleasanter than it was. It almost feels as if Spring might be on its way.