Kodak Moment

The gray envelope nestled quietly in the pile of mail. As soon as I saw the return address my heart sunk. "Sacramento Photo Enforcement".

Inside, like a perfect presentation of a master blackmailer, were four high-resolution photos of a blue Honda Accord (that would be mine) driven by an handsome white-haired fellow in wraparound sunglasses (that would be me). The photos clearly show my car, my license plate and the traffic light glowing RED . It also shows the swerving cars as I plowed blissfully through the intersection.

Actually not so "blissfully". I had been on the infamous "WX" Expressway, one of Sacramento's notorious "death roads" and in a hurry to get over the causeway to Davis. As I plowed through the light obscured by a tree branch, cars were honking as they were swerving around me. As soon as I cleared the intersection I had to pull over and ascertain the need to go home and change my pants....

The terms of this blackmail are simple. Send $371 to a traffic court and the whole thing goes away. Or go to trial and perhaps to jail if you do not prevail. For traffic fines, there's MASTER CARD....

Back in Boston, if you got pulled over for running a light, the cop would ream you out for a few minutes and then collect the fine in cash on the spot. And off you go. In California however....

I'm just glad I'm all right.

Still here

I'm still trying to get time to break the blogs apart. Currently I am still updating http://drben54.livejournal.com

I'll be figuring out how to split things up soon. Till then check out the other blog!

Namaste,

BEN