Spent a week there one afternoon

Eager to be immersed in our new province, after three days of being here in June, we went to register our vehicles and change our Ontario driver's licences to Newfoundland ones. Thinking it would be like it is in Ontario where you go to a Service Ontario office, stand in line for not longer than 10-15 minutes, do your business at one of the 3-4 counters and you're done; out the door, well, no such luck here. First, we had to take a number and then sit in a large waiting "pen" that was already full. People were just sitting there with a kind of numb look on their faces. Some people even took the day off of work to come and wait. There were several TV screens hanging from the ceiling which only showed the ticket numbers being called and the counter you were to go to. There were 13 counters, although I don't think they were all staffed. So we found a chair and sat. After an hour, we decided to have lunch. Conveniently, there was a small food café beside the waiting area so you could still watch for your number. We had a leisurely lunch of pea soup and a sandwich, then we went back to the "pen" to wait. After more than 2 hours, our number finally came up.  Even with all of the required paperwork already completed, it still took 30 minutes before we were handed our new licences. We got the new plates for the van and camper. For those who know us, you know that for the last 30 years our licence plate was AL BEV. Well, no more, because in Newfoundland they do not offer personalized plates. We were hoping to use AL BEV in each province but so much for that plan. Oh, what a long time waiting and being served. So I can now say that I "spent a week there one afternoon".

Now, the next week we went to get our new health cards. We were there for less than 15 minutes and left with our new cards "hot off the press". What a difference!