Photo by neonwilderness

Yeah, baby!

First time. Hee.

While my mum and my brother were still in Aberdeen, we had rented a small car for them to roam around and golf after ybunny and myself went on honeymoon.

We've never owned a car, so we don't have a holder permit. Every time we rent a car we're forced to pay parking stickers while we're parked near our flat.

On Saturday morning, we woke up and looked to move the car onto the school zigzags where it is free on weekends and weekdays after 5pm. No luck. So the car stayed in the regular pay spots.

I fished out what change I had...it happened to be 3 pound coins. This is the beginning of our problems.

There is a glitch in the parking sticker machines on Esslemont, one that I'm guessing is all over town. If you pay in £3, you don't get the maximum amount of parking time (normally a cost of £2.40). Instead, you get a sticker that displays the same time as the time of printing, but is dated for the following business day.

Just to be clear, I've now got a sticker expiring not 3 hours after 10:51, but one that show it expiring at 10:51 on coming Monday.

11 minutes after I put the sticker on, one of the Maroon Dragoons (parking attendants) came by and slapped a ticket on the car.

We returned from church, 2 hours later, to find the ticket.

Incensed that they would ticket us for a problem they caused, I wrote a note to the Parking Office, stating the reason why they needed to take the ticket and shove it.

A week ago, I received a letter from the Parking Office letting me know that they had waived the violation.

But, here's the kicker: they said 'we will be unable to waive further violations of this same nature'.

Wait...what? It's your machine's fault, but if I overpay it again...if I happen to be without exact change, you'll charge me £60?

Yes, the word you're looking for is ridiculous.

Brilliant council. You make so much sense.

The trip to Cornwall was lovely in many ways and frustrating in others. Here goes the travelogue.


Travelogue! With pictures!

( Saturday, 26 May: Train to Bristol )

( Sunday, 27 May: Train to Penzance, Paul )

( Monday, 28 May: Land's End )

( Tuesday, 29 May: Gweek Seal Sanctuary and The Lizard )

( Wednesday, 30 May: St. Michael's Mount and Truro Cathedral )

( Thursday, 31 May: Penzance and Mousehole )

( Friday, 1 June: Driving to Leeds )

( Saturday, 2 June: Driving to Aberdeen )

More photos here.


ybunny, my darling fiance, came home on Sunday. Since then we've been sorting out flat/wedding/finance/honeymoon stuff. Plus, he's been packing for the Download Festival.

Well, we've decided to be Spontaneous™, and head down to England (specifically, Leeds and Cambridge) tomorrow.

So, we'll be off air until next Friday.

Everyone in England, wave as we go by...

:)

---

Bikkit!

And that's one Theory Test Pass for me!

Tomorrow, 2 hour driving lesson.

Why keep my old car...mmm...

I left school about midmorning, on a mission to get a German dictionary. After hassling with the Ashevillians, I headed home. The exit is a 180 degree twist. The trick is to start in second with the engine screaming and slam it directly into fourth as you slingshot around the curve, thus avoiding those merging from I-240 into I-40. The exit to I-40 Westbound is a well banked slide to the right just after my original entrance to the highway. With a culvert too steep for cops to lie in wait and a straight line of sight into the oncoming traffic, it's possible to hit about 110 mph * before merging with traffic. Sweet mother of acceleration, I love it as the car swishes over the concrete at the top of the hill. I slow it back to 90, in order to weave a path between two semis (lorries). I check the shadow side of the ramp leading from I-40 to I-26 and notice two of North Carolina's finest guarding the pass, so I decide to take the riverside road that connect the state routes 91 and 25. Speed isn't an option in those senuous curves, but anything over 40 gives a delicious feeling of G shift as the winding road creeps nearer, then farther from the banks of the French Broad River. Isn't German engineering great...and all this in a 13 year old car.

Check out redthought's user pics for a view of the red racer.


* That's about 175 kph for those of you on that island...and 90 is 145. I know not everyone uses mph!