Birthday treat dilemma.

How fabulous vicky

That must have been marvellous.

Oh lovely! You lucky thing, what a nice treat

Well, I said I would let you know where my friend took me for a birthday treat. I was completely wrong with my guesses. We went to Highgrove (private residence of HRH the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall). Absolutely lovely place with such beautiful gardens. We had a two hour tour of the gardens and a champagne afternoon tea. Wonderful !

Thank you all for the advice. It’s “dress code” as in wellies and jeans or floaty dress type clothes. Best to play it by ear on the day. I’ll let you know where I go .......

so if she asks me, do I say I have been before or keep shtum?

Big If... never trouble trouble, 'til trouble troubles you

Keep schtum until it happens and then decide what to say.
Happy Birthday and have a wonderful time.

I m really looking forward to hearing where it is you’re going with you special clothes and passport ?

I think it will be difficult to pretend you've never been there before. You'd have to act a part all day.

Lots of places are great to visit twice so does it really matter if you've been before?

I think I'd be upfront and tell the truth. Enjoy!

Well I'm a Londoner lived here all my life and I no longer have a valid passport. I've only used it for holidays involving airports, other than that my driving licence has always sufficed. I have no intentions of replacing my passport as my condition means I can't fly. If I decide to buy a house I'm sure they'll find a way around it as it will mean the funds are quite obviously coming from my current property.

Wait until your surgery decides that it cannot cope with the demand for its services and decides that you can no longer go into the surgery and book an appointment.

We now have to ring in and will be rung back and triaged by a doctor or we go online and do it that way. Either way no triage call, no appointment and no guarantee of one even then..

Ours is not the first surgery to introduce this system by a long way and it certainly will not be the last. Sooner or later every surgery will be on it.

We didn't need passports for our first four houses, but we did for this one. It is money laundering legislation that makes it necessary for passports to be required for almost any financial operation these days.

Well I ve still never used my passport for anything other than the airport Monica my Mum and Dad never ever had a passport but successfully bought their house I ve certainly never had to show one at the doctors or solicitors not that Ive used avsolicitors much Maybe it does depend where you live

No, I am not eating at posh restaurants and certainly not The Shard. I passed by the base of it last week. An underwhelming building that looks a lot smaller than it is made out to be. Totally unmemorable if they hadn't made such a fuss about it.

I needed my passport ( twice)to get an appointment with my GP, even then I was unsuccessful. I needed it to show my solicitor when I took over the administration of a deceased relatives estate, I needed it again when I had to transfer some money from my bank account to the solicitor to pay their charges. You need your passport if you buy a house (not done that for along time, but I remember having to produce it)

I find I am constantly having to prove who I am for more and more trivial reasons. As I said it will be the supermarkets soon wanting them if our food purchase bill is bigger than average.

And I live nearly 70 miles from London.

She is probably excited about surprising you so I would say nothing . Hope you have a lovely day .

Have a lovely time Vicky, with your dear friend. I'm more curious than you, so dont forget to let us know where and how it was ....nosey, that's me ?

I agree Bluebelle, never even taken my passport anywhere but an airport!
Sounds exiting Vicky!

Oh so different if you don’t live in London then

The Kensington Roof Gardens would be a real treat.
I went there over 20 years ago with a friend and our 2 DD’s who were about 13 at the time.
The doorman said we couldn’t go up as it was closed for a private party. Then, seeing our disappointed faces, he said it wasn’t going to be used for another couple of hours and we could go up and have a quick look.
It was magical. The garden was lovely and I couldn’t believe how quiet it was, only a few floors up from the busy street.
Enjoy your celebration vicky wherever it turns out to be

You need a passport (or other photo ID) to visit Prince Charles' Highgrove gardens and also the roof garden in Kensington which used to be Derry & Toms(?)

end of first para should be password not passport.

Maybe you are eating at a posh restaurant like the Shard?

I needed my passport to sign up to the computer system that is now virtually the only way I can make an appointment to see my GP. In fact I needed it twice, once when I went into the surgery to complete the form and again when they gave me my passport.

I find I am constantly being asked to prove who I am; banks, Building Societies, solicitors.

I expect anyday to be asked to produce it in the supermarket when I spend more than £25 to prove I am not trying to money launder some ill gotten gains,

You don’t need passport at Sky Garden, but you do need to book in advance with details etc and you go through security scanners like at an airport. It’s free though and worth it if you are in London- you can eat there and have tea/ drinks etc

Well how the other half live I ve never heard of using a passport except at an airport so you live and learn

We needed them for lunch on one of the forts in the sea just off Portsmouth (and if I knew I was making a second visit there I would be over the moon), the experience was fantastic.

We needed them in France (as did French nationals) when we went to visit one of their nuclear power stations. It was a visitor centre, so had people visiting daily - but not without a passport.

Dresscode for the SkyGarden??