Off By One

Well, that was bullshit.

All in all, a great new year’s eve - a glass of port, a lot of talking with Char, Mel, and Simon, and a leisurely drive home.

Or not.

More like a drive home interrupted by the first cop i’ve ever encountered who actually fit the “i intend to give you a ticket for something ” stereotype. In addition to the two things that he ended up citing me for, he threatened A) a DUI charge, B) a citation for having my license plate covered by snow a full three hours after the first snowfall in weeks, C) speeding (for going a hair under 50 km/h, but having the misfortune to hit some black ice that almost (but not quite - i stopped in time) caused me to slide through a four-way stop.

Then, he nailed me for not wearing a broken seatbelt and for failing to have up to date insurance. The latter charge i can’t dispute, regrettably - i have the insurance paper, although i’m not sure where it is, but i didn’t have it with me, and apparently that’s worth $172. The seatbelt thing, well, Char will say i should have been using the middle belt, and so did he, but when i do the shoulder belt sits across my neck somewhat, which makes me uncomfortable. So i choose not to use it. So, my choice here was, “Well, wear it, or i’ll have your truck towed,” which was, to say the least, a wonderful capper to my first experience with EPS from this end of the stick.

In general i have a high opinion of cops, they do a shitty job and receive little appreciation for it. But christ. There have got to be better things he could have been doing.