The Price of Stupidity
Ok, so Allison mentioned that we got a ticket on the train last weekend for not having the proper ticketing materials. That is true. Here is the ticket, followed by each of our mug-shots.* In case you're wondering why Allison has that look on her face, it is because her conscience is eating at her. Fine. I wish she would have shown some of that distress to the conductor, though. I am still convinced that if she had only burst into tears on the train, we would have been off the hook. But it was all our own fault, anyway. Furthermore, I believe that our experience was one of justice mingled with mercy, as they say. I don't know whether you can tell, but the fine (soprattassa/penalita) is 25 Euros on the ticket, and I'm fairly certain that that is the charge for only one offender--so I think he only penalized us half of what he could have.
On another and quite unrelated note, if anyone wants to send us care packages (hint, hint!), I would love it if I could get a hold of a P.G. Wodehouse novel besides Stiff Upper Lip, Jeeves--the closest thing I've found here so far is one of his books in Italian translation, and, well, I can't read Italian; and plus, the humor is just so English, anyway. Vanessa, I'm counting on you for this. Or anyone else who enjoys a shameless plea. But if anyone does want to do it, I'll buy you a glass of wine if you come visit. Or I'll try to get you an audience with the Pope, but I'm not making any promises. And Allison would like a puppy, if you can fit that in the box too. A pug.
Ok, that's all for now. The Italian train-ticket judge gave us community service requirements to fulfill.
*For any worried family members, no, those aren't real mug-shots. We're just really good actors!
posted by Eric @ 1:51 PM
7 Comments:
Hi Eric and Allison,
It's Aunt Barbara from Atlanta. Just talked to Eric's mom and she told me about your blog, so I'm here laughing and remembering how fun it was when Lar and I lived in Taiwan back in the day--even with the challenges of finding a place to live, trying out my newly-learned Chinese to buy groceries at the open-air markets, the rats and the mosquito netting. Seems rather romantic in retrospect. Eat lots of gelato for me.
Fugitives! We can only hope for such adventures together this upcoming March. We've always wanted to spend a day in an Italian prison. Can you work on that? And where would we send a care package if we came across one?
Hey, Aunt Barbara! Thanks for commenting. Yeah, it's definitely fun, and we don't even have to deal with vermin and netting. And don't worry about the gelato: we're eating enough for you and your whole household.
Hi to D/L too! For some reason your comment wasn't up before I typed mine. And I definitely don't want you to feel slighted if there's a chance of your sending books and puppies.
I will work on the address, and getting you an appointment in a prison. I'll try to talk to the customs officers who'll be admitting you into the country; I'll just ask them to arrest you on the spot and to shout at you in spittle-flecked Italian.
Criminals! Scalawags! Outlaws!
Love the mug shots! I think they are worthy of a box full of puppies...I'll work on that.
Hey Guys, Just wanted to let you know that Dana and I also received a multa in Italia. Only ours was 116 Euros for parking a car in the spot reserved for the public prosecutor of Siena. In case you're wondering, PG is not some Italian abbreviation for 'ParkinG'. It means Procuratore Generale. Avoid at all cost. On a good note though, Dana (with a little lip-stick) talked the Carabinieri down to 35 euro. Small victory, but we'll take it. Hope you guys are still having fun. You should be far enough away from the academy for that. Ciao. Brad and Dana.
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