Births, Marriages and Deaths... and Library Books

Yesterday we went to the Registrars office in Guildford to get our son's birth certificate. It is a fairly straightforward process and the Guildford office is a really nice old building on the outskirts of the city, one of those buildings that somehow still seems to exist in an England of about 60 years ago.

Seeing the Registrar is by appointment only so earlier in the week I had called up the local council and went through the standard automated menu on the telephone. Now, bearng in mind that there are three very important, emotional events each with varying degrees of trauma that you could be calling about to make an appointment it seemed really odd to me that extending the loan period of your library books is grouped with speaking to the Registrars office. Even after selecting that first option, in the next list of choices what comes first? thats right, 'To extend your library books press 1'. I don't know... perhaps this has come about through customer demand. Just had a baby?, perhaps you're too busy to get to the library. Just got married?, better renew those library books before the honeymoon. Recently bereaved? renew your library books over the phone and take them back when you're feeling more sociable.