Monthly Archives: November 2007

My missing Keema Nan

Other Interests

I just called our local Indian takeaway to order some yummy Friday night food. At the end of the phone call, when I gave my name, the guy at the other end of the phone stopped me and asked if I’d ordered a meal from them on 3rd September.

I was slightly bewildered and couldn’t remember. But on mention of a missing keema nan it all came flooding back.

A few weeks back (apparently on 3rd September), we ordered and collected an Indian takeaway. On getting it home I was rather distressed to find that it was missing from the paper bag. I recovered though and, ultimately, forgot about it.

Until tonight when the lovely man at the Pipasa remembered my name (and, probably, my identical order!) and told me that he wasn’t going to charge me for my keema nan this time.

How good is that for customer service? :o)

Unmarried but honestly

Other Interests

I recently had to complete a CRB (Criminal Records Bureau) form. Today, I got it back again with a query about my name.

Now, my surname is, as you probably know or have guessed, Cowen. This is my family’s surname and the name I received at birth. I’ve never had a different surname.

In Section C of the CRB form, Line 20 provides a box labelled Surname at birth (if different). It’s that bit in parentheses that’s important here:”if different”. My surname at birth is, as I said, not different from the surname I gave as my name. So I left that box blank.

My ‘mistake’, apparently was that, in Section A Line 1, I selected Ms as my title for the innocent reason that I don’t like to be called Miss (I find it unnecessary to tell people that I’m unmarried or to give the impression that I’m a 10-year-old girl). By selecting Ms, however, I could be hiding the fact that I am, or have been, actually married and, thus, who knows what my surname at birth was.

Despite the fact that I’ve signed the form to say that it contains the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And the fact that it asks me only to provide my surname at birth (IF DIFFERENT)!

I think you get the idea that I’m a touch annoyed by all this. The upshot of it all is that the charity for whom I’m getting the CRB check done has had to send me the form back by recorded delivery so that I can fill in a box that I correctly didn’t fill in the first time. Anyway, I’ve written my surname at birth in Line C20 as requested and as if it didn’t say “(if different)”. And now I’ve to return the form to the charity so that they can post it back to the CRB agency.