No, this is not a post about spiritual things or the book of Romans or the Law of the Old Testament. But I'm almost as happy that I escaped the puny wrath of this law as I am about escaping eternal damnation. ( Okay- a BIT of an exaggeration there, and hopefully not sacrilegious. ) Because any wrath- puny or not- tends to shrivel me and make me have a bad day. Unless it's deserved - and then I'm all fine with it. ( Yeah.)
It's been an interesting week with lots of extra things happening. Philip went back to school, Karena and her kids arrived, and Grandpa returned from his sojourn in the lands of the West. It's been a good week -just a bit unusual and hectic. And this evening was no exception. I had to do a couple errands after work and so I drove a direction that I don't usually drive in. I took a left turn onto a busy road, mentally congratulating myself that I had succeeded in getting across the road b/c it's not always easy to do at that intersection. That's when I saw the police car pull up behind me and turn on his lights. Ah. The crowning touch to my busy day. My mind sprang into action: It must have been because I didn't come to a full stop at that stop sign! I was in such a hurry to get across the road while it was still clear that I must have rolled through the sign...I kicked myself ( again- mentally) because I had SEEN that cop sitting there, even before I pulled out onto the street. I told myself it couldn't be that big a deal but thoughts of the New Boston police and how much they charged a certain family member of mine for the same offense quickly flooded my mind.
It turns out that it is illegal to make a left turn at that intersection between certain high-traffic hours... but I was ignorant of this since I don't usually go that way at that time of day and I explained this to the officer. FORTUNATELY, he had pity on me and let me go with a warning. PHEW. Then I started feeling guilty about it. I think at one point I DID know about this rule b/c it started sounding familiar ( I think perhaps at one time it was posted) but since I rarely go home that way, I wasn't really thinking about it...AURGH! My soul-scraping honesty is going to get me in real trouble one of these days. CONFESSION! CONFESSION! Maybe I should just go to the local police station and leave a big pot of money for them and have done with it. Oh well. I suppose I should just be grateful I received mercy. No doubt they'll get me again sometime for something else. And I'm grateful that he didn't ask me why I thought he had pulled me over. Because I think I really did roll through that stop sign and that would have been what I said if he asked me...and I SHOULD have gotten a fine for that.
I think this is a good case - among many others- to show why it's a good thing I'm not a Supreme Court Justice - or any kind of judge for that matter.
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Oooh, I am the same way. I bumped someone's bumper a while ago...I happened to be looking in the wrong direction at the wrong time...and was issued a ticket for it. The cop apologized for giving it to me because I didn't do ANY damage to the lady's car. It was the kind of bumper bumping that people look at, shrug, shake hands, and go on about their business. But this lady was on her cell phone with the police before I could RUN from my car to her door. (Always good to appear as concerned and caring as possible, right?) She didn't seem to be a fast mover in any other way...arg. So this lady called the cops on a totally harmless bump, ugh, and the cop apologized for having to issue the ticket because, come on. He did volunteer that I could show up on my appointed court date to contest the ticket. He mentioned that a few times. It led me to believe that he was telling me to contest it, that he'd be happy for me to do so.
Unfortunately I knew that I hit the lady, nevermind she and her car weren't damaged. I hit her. What is there to contest? What is there to say? "Hi, Judge, I'd like to not pay this ticket. Sure, no damage was done and no NORMAL person would have called the cops, but my bumper DID make contact with her bumper. So, um, can I just not give you the money?" Right.
And how is the baby-growing coming along??
sometimes, soul-searching is just more pain than it is worth ;-)
Know what I mean? [said in his best Ernest voice, hehehee]
Or Wroth, (as they would say for wrath) in England!
I recently found out the rate for rolling through a stop sign in Virginia. It's the handling fee that makes it punishing.
When I was asked if I knew why I was being stopped, I answered, "Oh, you know how it is." He said, "No. What do you mean!!" I bacdpedaled real quick & apologized for my attitude - "You really have nothing better to do?" He was quite human-like AFTER he issued the ticket.
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