Last year, the tags on the purple bomb expired, and I did nothing to accomidate the issue. Month after month, we drove around with expired tags. I felt a guilty twinge almost daily, but never enough to actually drive myself to the court house and buy new tags. Honestly, it was pure laziness on my part. I had the money set aside to do it, but the drive clear across town to go stand in a line for an undisclosed amount of time was the real mental roadblock. So, we committed to driving extra carefully, and let the months roll by. Eventually we realized that if we could make it to the first of January before buying the tags, that we wouldn't have to pay the previous year's taxes. Now, that is just economical.
The second of January, Kloe and I went down to the courthouse and paid for the new tags. I proudly put the new sticker on the front of my car. We'd been meaning to eventually put it on the back where it was supposed to go, but as you see, the tags have never had an appropriate amount of importance attatched to them for us to remody THAT situation either. We drove on our merry way, guilty twinges gone.
Enter yesterday, at the intersection of Reserve and Brooks where the train tracks run through. Since I have lived here I have only had to stop for a train there maybe four times. Yesterday I had to stop for a train. A police car pulled in right behind me. Now, because I was raised in Plains Montana, where I have been pulled over numerous occasions on a local officers whim (and the fact I have a #4 county plate on my car), I always expect to be randomly pulled over and this causes me to get twitchy. Sometimes I even start to quietly start to reassure myself,"You are OKAY, you have done nothing wrong, there is NO reason to be pulled over". When the train had gone by, and I started moving again, the blue and red lights behind me started to flash.
Did you know it is a fifty dollar fine to have the stickered tag on the front of the car? I didn't either. Also, did you know that your proof of insurance has to have the effective dates on it? Once again, me neither. I have to admit, it was somewhat satisfying to say, "I DO have a current tag, it is just on the front", and equally deflating to hear that it is still a fifty dollar penalty for not switching it to the back. But the officer was nice, and let me off the hook. He said it is the highway police officers that will really fine you for that (in town officers are the nice guys), but I still have to go to the courthouse with proof of insurance. Ironic huh? A whole year of procastinating the tag thing to avoid the courthouse, and now I have a week to reappear to another line there with proof of insurance. Poetic justice? Maybe.
The second of January, Kloe and I went down to the courthouse and paid for the new tags. I proudly put the new sticker on the front of my car. We'd been meaning to eventually put it on the back where it was supposed to go, but as you see, the tags have never had an appropriate amount of importance attatched to them for us to remody THAT situation either. We drove on our merry way, guilty twinges gone.
Enter yesterday, at the intersection of Reserve and Brooks where the train tracks run through. Since I have lived here I have only had to stop for a train there maybe four times. Yesterday I had to stop for a train. A police car pulled in right behind me. Now, because I was raised in Plains Montana, where I have been pulled over numerous occasions on a local officers whim (and the fact I have a #4 county plate on my car), I always expect to be randomly pulled over and this causes me to get twitchy. Sometimes I even start to quietly start to reassure myself,"You are OKAY, you have done nothing wrong, there is NO reason to be pulled over". When the train had gone by, and I started moving again, the blue and red lights behind me started to flash.
Did you know it is a fifty dollar fine to have the stickered tag on the front of the car? I didn't either. Also, did you know that your proof of insurance has to have the effective dates on it? Once again, me neither. I have to admit, it was somewhat satisfying to say, "I DO have a current tag, it is just on the front", and equally deflating to hear that it is still a fifty dollar penalty for not switching it to the back. But the officer was nice, and let me off the hook. He said it is the highway police officers that will really fine you for that (in town officers are the nice guys), but I still have to go to the courthouse with proof of insurance. Ironic huh? A whole year of procastinating the tag thing to avoid the courthouse, and now I have a week to reappear to another line there with proof of insurance. Poetic justice? Maybe.
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