Licence to Drive...

...in Dodoma! The red book is my old Tz licence and the other card is my sparkling, new updated licence! It is very exciting to have my new licence. These new licences have recently been introduced and we all need to switch over to them over the next few months.
There is good reason to celebrate the receipt of my new licence- as it is not a straightforward process! It took a couple of days, with several drives across town... I joined forces with Keep Fit teacher Margaret and her hubby Andy, plus Yoram, a very helpful Tanzanian MAF worker who came to assist us with our Swahili.

We started out at one building, where application forms are filled in, then a somewhat intimidating trip to the police station to get some forms signed, then back to the 1st building to get another paper signed, then back to the police station to see another official. One of them was absent, so we returned there another morning... but the required staff were still unavailable, so we returned home for a welcome morning cuppa.
The next stages were another trip to the police station, then back to the original offices again- and then a trip to the bank to pay the fee, followed by another trip to the offices after a couple of days to pick up the newly issued licence! Fortunately for me, my papers were all in order and just needed a couple of signatures, so I did not need to go along for any of these final stages. Yoram was able to follow these through on my behalf. Margaret and Andy also had to do a Highway code test, which I missed out on (to my relief!), but that is a whole other story...
Yoram delivered the new licence on Tuesday afternoon to a very grateful Liz!

Having a new licence is one less matter to worry about on the subject of cars, as I am now adapting to driving a different vehicle... we have switched over to using the Cousley's car, since it has more room to fit in our expanded family. Getting used to gears again after driving an automatic since we got to Tanzania, I am lurching my way around Dodoma in the new Parker Mobile- already decorated with evidence of my driving, as it sports the dust of Dodoma's roads! (at least the dusty exterior doesn't bother Ben, who is enjoying a little nap in our car this afternoon!)