I can’t believe it has been 5 years since the hideous experience of getting my Italian licence, but last week I began to tackle the task of renewing it.
I went to the local ACI office clutching new photographs and signed a form, was sent off to the post office to pay 2 fees, returned to ACI to be told to report to the office the following Monday for La Visita ( the visit with the doctor).
I arrived at the appointed time, paid some more money and joined an ever growing group of people also waiting to see the doctor.
My heart sank when I saw the form to be filled out and signed by the doctor. On one side of the foolscap page was a list of diseases. The Yes or No box waited to be ticked. I recognised some of them and am happy to declare that I don’t have them. The rest were unknown to me.
The other side of the page was worse, I could understand none of it. I hoped that the doctor spoke some English or I was in trouble.
I had plenty of time to consider my fate, the doctor was an hour late. He finally arrived and those ahead of me filed in one by one. They seemed to be coming out quickly.
Soon it was my turn. I walked in and the doctor noted that I was Australian after looking carefully at my form. He asked me to identify numbers in the test for colour blindness. I passed that one easily.
He then looked at the front page of the form and declared that I had none of the diseases listed. With the stroke of a pen he crossed them all out. He did the same with whatever was on the other side of the page and signed the form.
Then came the eye test. I had to cover one eye and read out the letters he pointed to…all good. Then I had to cover the other eye. That proved a little more difficult and I hesitated on the first one…not to worry…the doctor told me what it was and we moved on to the next, which I identified correctly.
He signed the form and my visit was over. I was told to return in a few days to collect the new licence.
I laughed all the way to the car…siamo in Italia.
I now have the prize in my hand. I don’t have to go back until my birthday in 2021.