Being told off as an adultWhen was the last time you were properly told off? You know: treated as an errant child rather than the sophisticated adult you are.
The sort of thing that dredges up an involuntary teenage mumble of "Sorry, Miss" whilst you stare at the ground.
Go on, tell us what childish thing you were up to when you got caught.
Oh, and can we have more than one-line answers this time? Cheers!
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chthonic, Thu 20 Sep 2007, 17:18)
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Death ValleyA few years back, I was on holiday in the western US and we decided to go to Death Valley for a day. For those of you who haven't had the chance to visit yet, it's not like the Cherwell Valley in Oxfordshire - Death Valley is enormous. I've been in smaller countries, seriously.
So after a lot of driving, on the way back up from Badwater Basin to go home, we got up behind a Land Rover Discovery, which was pissing me off by going somewhat erratically - slowing down, speeding up etc Every time I tried to overtake, the bloke in the Disco put the foot down and blocked me.
Anyway, we came to a long straight - 3 miles or so - and I floored it, pulled out, passed the Disco and pulled in again. He wasn't going quickly at this point so I probably didn't exceed 70mph (in a 60 mph limit), then pulled in and continued. Being a reasonably law abiding citizen, I would have been doing no more than 65mph along the straight.
A small dot at the side of the road grew larger and revealed itself to be a Park Ranger's vehicle. As I passed, he started up and followed us.
Next thing, the flashing lights were on and he pulled me over.
"The speed limit's 60mph on this road, sir, not 75".
I protested (truthfully) that I wasn't doing 75 but he was having none of it. So I got the full works about how the major cause of deaths in Death Valley was actually road accidents, and how the nearest hospital was "in Las Vegas, three hours away".
"Bollocks", I thought. "It's in Ridgecrest, and we came from there this morning in two hours, and given a chance I could do it in an hour and a half". But, surprising myself, I didn't say anything.
So I had to suffer the humilitation of a dressing down in 50°C heat. Which left me even hotter. I think he decided that giving a ticket to a foreign national for an offence he'd fabricated was too much hassle, as he said he could have indicted me, but had decided not to. Big of him, eh?
Apologies for length (95 miles or so)
PS Try not to get a Chevy Malibu as a rental car in the US. They're crap!
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K2k6 has a proper job these days, Fri 21 Sep 2007, 8:58,
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