Google Calendar: now there's the ticket.

Generally speaking, I’ve kept my nose pretty clean since arriving in the US some seven years ago. You won’t find me on political blogs, commenting about how insane the Bush administration is. You won’t see me railing against the basic selfishness of this presidency and how it has hurt the world in general and America in particular.

But today was different, and it was, apparently, my own damned fault.

Driving back to my office after my class, I noticed a police car in my rear view mirror. I noticed it even more clearly when the bubblegum lights atop the vehicle began to flash.

I pulled over and rolled down the window.

“Good afternoon, sir,” said the officer. “You are driving with expired tags. I’m going to have to give you a citation, so please remain where you are and I’ll be back with you in a few minutes.”

I was flabbergasted. I searched my skull for any memories of having renewed the tags, but when I reached into the glove box, it was clear that I should have renewed for both cars prior to November, 2006. I just plain forgot. I obviously got it confused with renewing the driver’s permit.

When he came back to the car, the officer said, “I’m sure this was just an oversight. I ran your licence, and you have no violations.”

I shared with him that I had only one traffic violation, for speeding, in my entire driving career. Not to influence him, because I think it was a natural reaction by someone in shock. But he did say that he would note on the record that he thought it was an oversight. A very pleasant encounter, were it not for the money involved.

The other violation in question was, to some extent, caused by the police near Stratford, Ontario. Coming back from the Shakespeare Festival one night, I was nearly blinded by a car behind with headlights in the mirrors. I adjusted the interior mirror to “night” setting, but the outside mirror still gave me trouble. So I sped up, just a little: about five miles an hour above the limit. The pursuing vehicle kept pace. That alone should have warned me, but when the annoyance continued, I shoveled a little more coal, and ran 60 in a 50.

On went the lights.

So now, I have to deal with the American court system, to the tune of what I don’t know until tomorrow. Some research on the web suggests $185 U.S. dollars. But that’s a couple of years back. And I still have two cars to register, so we’re looking upwards to $300.

There is an answer to all this. It’s called Google Calendar, and it comes as part of the package when you sign up for a Google Gmail account, which is, as of Feb 20, open and free to anyone who wants one. I’ve now put an annual reminder on it that will tweak me a month before.

I looked up the local jurisdiction and found that there is another person who ran afoul of the gendarmerie back in 1998 by the simple but idiotic method of giving his car fake license plates (tags) to wear in public. Regrettably, he has the same first and last name as I do. I have no doubt that the court computers will identify me as a second offender, again with license problems, and will act accordingly.

Never mind. I have always wanted to visit Cuba, all expenses paid, although not for life.