Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Australian Competence
I do like Australians and, as a result, I find what is happening now peculiarly painful. So here, at my expense, is a tribute to their startling competence. On November 2nd I parked illegally on Lawson Street, Byron Bay, New South Wales. I got a ticket. I was, of course, driving a hire car - a Nissan X-Trail, since you ask, not bad but dull - and, living as I do on the other side of the world, I did not pay the fine, complacently assuming that would be that. Today I receive a penalty notice from the State Debt Recovery Office - A$80, since you ask. They had tracked me through the car hire company - Hertz, since you ask - and found me here in the bit of Notting Hill Gate that Nige always claims is actually Kensington. I have ignored parking tickets all over world and this has never previously happened. Good on yer, mates, I'll pay online now.
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A blog about, among other things, imaginary ideas - What ifs? and Imagine thats. What if photographs looked nothing like what we see with our eyes? Imagine that the Berlin Wall had never come down. What if we were the punchline of an interminable joke? All contributions welcome.
Bart Simpson also found that out.
ReplyDeleteYou'll probably be required to fly back there to receive a booting.
Challenge it, and point out that costs and the logistics of flying over to give your side of the story.
ReplyDeleteI believe habeas corpus is still alive and well in the lucky country.
not exactly Ned Kelly. So, do you tolerate illegal parking in Notting Hill too? it's probably just a tourist on his way home
ReplyDeleteYou would expect no less from the country that invented plastic dosh, waterproof you see, oh hang on a minute, they don't have much rain down there.
ReplyDeleteFlame retardant dosh, wouldn't that be something.
Talking about flame retardant, aren't the four boyo's doing well.
A friend of mine ignored a speeding ticket in Virginia. He can't got there lest he be clapped in jail, as the highway patrol man warned at the time. Why do you motorists think you are above the law?
ReplyDeleteHad the same thing happen to us in New Zealand - except we didn't ignore it we were told by the hire company they would pay it and they added it to the bill.
ReplyDeleteBryan: no one here has yet expressed surprise that you suddenly made an appearance on the other side of the world. In fact, you were just a couple of hundred km down the road from me in Brisbane, and I was unaware of your presence. Let me know next time, and I'll introduce you to: well, there's a point. I actually don't know anyone important; my kids can be kind of annoying at dinner and my Japanese wife doesn't have any idea who you are.
ReplyDeleteWell, I can shout you a drink if you explain again why you think Wittgenstein can save us from the modern malaise.
(Byron Bay is lovely, but the streets convert to a gigantic car park in the school holidays. You have tried Noosa Heads, have you?)
Hi, Steve. I put the wrong date in the post - it was Nov 2nd, changed now. Would have liked to see Brisbane
ReplyDeleteAt Iguider's in Japan
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