My Ticket

Last week, as I drove to school, I got a ticket. A traffic ticket. I am so proud to say that I have now been stopped by police in two countries.

It all started when I chose to take the scenic way to school, crossing the beautiful bridge over the lake, and avoiding the crowded streets full of construction on the other side of the lake. As I cruised on my bike listening to my ipod, I came to the last intersection where I make a left turn onto the road that takes me to my school. I noticed a lot of police (about 6) stopping electric bikes and pulling them to the side of the road. It was rush hour and the streets were very busy. I stopped at the light and waited for the green arrow so I could turn left. As I sat there I watched people being pulled over left and right, trying to figure out why.

Finally, the light turned green and I started to turn left. Immediately one of the policemen stopped me and grabbed my keys out of my bike and threw them in a plastic bag with all the other people's keys who were waiting there in the middle of the intersection. Then the policeman walked away. There I sat in the middle of the busy intersection, no keys, no understanding of WHY I was stopped and sitting there, and no clue what would happen next.

I flagged down one of the policemen and asked him what I had done wrong. Apparently, since I am an electric bike, I am not supposed to turn left with the green arrow, but am supposed to stay in the crosswalks with peddle bikes and walkers. Who knew? For a year I have been turning left on the left arrow.....and apparently countless others were unaware of this as well.

I then asked the policeman what I must do to get my keys back. He said I must pay 50 local dollars to the "head policeman" and he would give me back my keys. OK, no problem. Except, I only had 30 local dollars in my bag. So......I called my sweet husband. I explained my situation, and he very logically asked if there was an ATM close by. I located one on the corner, and left my bike in the middle of the intersection with the capable policemen.

I promptly retrieved some cash and went to pay my fine. But.....the ATM only gave me 100's , and the policeman wouldn't make change. He told me the one thing I love to hear, "mei banfa". Meaning, there's no way. Oh....except for the 100's of people who have already given you 50 local dollars, so I KNOW you have change. But I didn't say that. As I stood there I noticed 4 other people waiting in a line for change.....they too only had 100's.

At this point I was 30 min. late for class. So, I decided to buy a bottle of water and make my own change......genius. With my bottle of water in hand, I waited in line to pay my fine, then I waited in another line to retrieve my keys. I hopped back on my bike and made it to class.

I am saving this ticket....it is cool. I will put it in my scrapbook, next to the ticket Rob got driving my car home from a Glee Club concert one night, when we were just getting to know each other.