Passports

A has been reading some letters to me from people who had mislaid their passports.  One passed Immigration using his O.A.P. bus pass.  Another his National Trust membership card and a schoolboy was allowed to join his party on showing the name tape his mum had sewn into the waistband of his trousers.

Going on honeymoon to France in 1947 I did not have a passport.  My name and photograph was included on my husband's passport.  And so it was for several years.  We were on the train leaving Paris to go to the south of France.  When we stopped temporarily D spotted a notice on the opposite platform saying "l'eau potable".  He said "I'll just nip over and fill our water bottle" and vanished.  Suddenly with a jerk the train started.  I didn't know whether D had gotm back on the train.  He was in possession of our passport, our tickets, our money and the address of the hotel we were goingto..  I sat there getting more amore panicky.  How to explain matters in my schoolgirl French?   After half an hour the door opened and D came in wreathed in smiles.  I have been sitting in the observation car talking to the guard and having lovely views of Paris" he said.  When I told my friend she said  "Did divorce cross your mind?  "No, never" I replied  "Strangulation perhaps".