As Brexiters are wetting themselves over getting a Blue Passport in a few years time I find myself nostalgic for the olde British visitor's passport
new simplified type, the British Visitor's Passport, introduced
in 1961. It was a single-page cardboard document valid for one year
obtainable for many years from Employment Exchanges, as agents of the Passport Office, and then from a Post Office.
You could pop in to the Post Office get a Photo taken in a booth fill in a form , pay 5 and go on holiday the next day
It was accepted for travel by most west European countries (excluding surface travel to West Berlin), but was dropped in 1995 since it did not identify the holder's nationality or meet new security standards.
Whilst on Holiday with a French Girlfriend I lost my Visitors Passport on the Paris Metro. She dragged me to the nearest Police Station and insisted that they give me a "declaration".
Travelling back to Dover on my own I was in a bit of a panic but on informing a boarder guard he took me to a telephone where he rang some office or other , groaned and said " Its a Welsh one" spoke for a few moments and then turned to me and said "Off you go".
Of course we are living in different times, but I| can't hep thinking that those seeking to harm us will not be stopped by a Passport whether , White, Blue or Burgundy.
I am not even an enthusiast for a "Welsh Passport" I hope Welsh identity will be dependent on my Nation being seen as beacon of Peace and Democracy, rather than a piece of cardboard.
Nationality is not defined by a Piece of cardboard and I would rather have free travel and movement between nations,
For those who can;t wait for their Blue piece of cardboard I wonder how their patriotic chest will swell as they find their can't go through the European Citizens channels and have to queue with other "foreigners".
Nations are much more than Passports I would cheerfully forgo a Welsh one for the right to freely travel in Europe .
Oh I can do so now, but alas for now.
You could pop in to the Post Office get a Photo taken in a booth fill in a form , pay 5 and go on holiday the next day
It was accepted for travel by most west European countries (excluding surface travel to West Berlin), but was dropped in 1995 since it did not identify the holder's nationality or meet new security standards.
Whilst on Holiday with a French Girlfriend I lost my Visitors Passport on the Paris Metro. She dragged me to the nearest Police Station and insisted that they give me a "declaration".
Travelling back to Dover on my own I was in a bit of a panic but on informing a boarder guard he took me to a telephone where he rang some office or other , groaned and said " Its a Welsh one" spoke for a few moments and then turned to me and said "Off you go".
Of course we are living in different times, but I| can't hep thinking that those seeking to harm us will not be stopped by a Passport whether , White, Blue or Burgundy.
I am not even an enthusiast for a "Welsh Passport" I hope Welsh identity will be dependent on my Nation being seen as beacon of Peace and Democracy, rather than a piece of cardboard.
Nationality is not defined by a Piece of cardboard and I would rather have free travel and movement between nations,
For those who can;t wait for their Blue piece of cardboard I wonder how their patriotic chest will swell as they find their can't go through the European Citizens channels and have to queue with other "foreigners".
Nations are much more than Passports I would cheerfully forgo a Welsh one for the right to freely travel in Europe .
Oh I can do so now, but alas for now.
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