Sometimes age pays off! :-D

I am in the process of getting some bureaucratic issues in order. One of the things on my list: getting a more modern driver's licence. :-D

I may admit that I haven't used my one-and-only (the first) driver's licence without pride. The older I got, the more I like it. :-D But I had been increasingly encouraged to change my German pink paper version into a more up-to-date EU version... So now, I thought, was the time to be a good citizen and make things easier for the authorities. I live abroad after all. ;)

Bye bye, my first! :-)

From this year on, it's not the police anymore that exchanges diver's licences, but Ajovarma, a carrier of the police. I had made an appointment, and the entire procedure was meant to take less than 30 min. But when I handed my driver's licence over to the young woman, who handled my inquiry, I could tell by the look in her eyes that it's gonna take much longer...

You would think she has encountered a German driver's licence before - there's so many Germans  - everywhere... ;) But nope. She immediately shouted for help from her colleague... What followed was a lot of questions and a lot of secret consultations amongst the staff of Ajovarma.

Is this a valid document????

Can I see your passport? Hm... Can I see your KeLa card, please?

Why is there no expiry date on your "driver's licence"?? How can there not be an expiry date???

What do I do, if there is no expiry date on that "driver's licence"?

Do I need to ask for a health certificate from her? (meaning me - and me, being insulted by this question - I am not THAT old yet!)

Have you been driving in Finland????

(asking her colleagues) What is the country code for Germany? D? Noo, D is Denmark! Hm, Saksa... what could it be?? (I confirmed it would be D, but I was ignored.) After browsing the internet: Huh, Denmark is DK! It's D for Germany. Huh...

Hm, you are wearing glasses... Do you need to wear glasses? -Yes.- Hm, hm, hm... what do I do, it doesn't say in your old "driver's licence" that you have to wear glasses. So I cannot say in your new one that you have to wear glasses when driving a car.... hm, hm, hm... ah, I just don't say that you need to wear glasses! It didn't say in your old one either. (whoohooo, one day I am gonna be wild and drive blindly - with permission from the Finnish authorities! ;-) )

OK, this is your new preliminary driver's licence! You'll get the new one in a few weeks from now. Your old document will be send back to Germany. -Wait, it says that I am only allowed to drive cars, and not even a trailer behind the car! I know I am allowed to drive at least a van with my German drivers licence, I would like to have the same permission for my new licence, please.-

Whaaaat???

Then she was more than half an hour gone. Discussing with her colleagues, browsing the internet.... 

In the meantime, I had time for some art. ;)

When she came back, she said that I wasn't allowed to have a trailer behind the car, and I wasn't allowed to drive a van either, BUT I would be entitled to drive a truck with a trailer, if it's heavier than 750 kg and up to 12 t!

Well, now we're talking!!!!! :-D :-D :-D

But not as a professional truck driver, only in your free time! :-D I accepted the terms.

At work I was laughing so much, because I found it funny that I wasn't allowed to drive a van, but the real heavy stuff! But in the afternoon, my phone rang. It was the boss from Ajovarma, apologising to me. There would be a mistake...

My first thought: Oh no, now they'll take the truck licence away from me.... :-D

But instead, he said that I was in fact entitled to drive many more vehicles than has been stated in my preliminary driver's licence! I was also allowed to drive motorcycles, cars with trailer, vans, trucks, and trucks with trailers! He would be so sorry, but I had to come by again in order to update the information.

Hell yeah, I'm coming by again with pleasure!!! :-D

Now, I have an impressive collection of the alphabet on my new driver's licence! And I am basically allowed (but not able) to conduct just about anything - except for an airplane maybe! ;) Really, I should have done this earlier! :-D

I now toy with the idea to ask my neighbour, a truck driver, to let me drive around with his truck. In my free time, of course. ;) And I need a motorcycle, too! Obviously. I should live up to the skills stated on my new driver's licence! :-)