Never shorten your name

So you're called Alexandra, but everyone except your granny calls you Alex. Or Thomas, but you're Tom to all but the bank.

I never knew how much trouble name shortening could cause until I started going out with a "shorty", who started life as "longy", if you know what I mean.

His passport is in the long name, but everything else is in the short name. So when Japan Airlines wants proof of address for our internal flights to Ishigaki, he's struggling to provide it, and it's putting a massive part of our holiday in jeapordy.

I know money laundering can be a problem, but come on!!