In the light of my criticism last week of Her Majesty’s Passport Office, concerning the difficulties posed by its renewal application form, I think I should place on record my entire satisfaction over what followed in my dealings with this oft-maligned organisation.

Regular readers will possibly recall that I told the story as far as the despatch of my form using the Check and Send service at the Witney Post Office.

That was on Thursday, two weeks ago. I imagined I was going to be in for a long wait, ruling out any prospect of foreign travels over the holiday period. The GovUK website, after all, warns: “It should take three weeks to get the passport — use a different service if you need the passport urgently.”

In fact, to my astonishment, the new passport arrived the following Tuesday. When the package was delivered, I assumed it was my old passport coming back. That actually came three days later, with a slip advising that my new one would shortly be on its way.

Was I especially lucky? Perhaps. But Rosemarie, who needed to renew her passport too, received hers last week with the same five-day service.

I also wrote last week of my problem with buses. Again, I have had a corrective experience. On Saturday, Rosemarie and I travelled to a party in Stadhampton using Go Ride’s 101 service. We were the only two people on the minibus, which made it seem we were being chauffeur-driven. Rossini opera arias courtesy of Classic FM added to the luxury feel.