full circle

My day on Friday started and ended with two different police officers. Once all the dust settled, I found it fairly amusing. On my way to work, an aggressive arsehole sent me in to the turning lane when he chose to take my lane regardless of the fact that our cars were parallel. It scared the living daylights out of me so I gave him a honk. His response was to give me the finger, followed by more hand gestures, followed by the finger, followed by reversing very close to my vehicle, followed by yet more finger wagging. I was silently raging, fantasizing about all the awful, horrible things I would like to do to him. He burned through the light only to cut off yet another innocent driver. I have never called the police to report this kind of behaviour but I was absolutely infuriated by him and the fact that I was now in a horrible mood. So, I took down his plate and called the local police station. The police officer was polite and understanding. He said he would give the driver a "talking to" if they managed to find him, both of us knowing full well it wouldn't happen.

I managed to shake it off, as I had some killer therapy sessions ahead of me. By the time I went to the Guster concert I was fully recovered. On the drive home, Lisa and I were discussing the concert and her impending departure when I suddenly saw flashing lights in my rear view mirror. Terror struck as I asked her "Was I speeding? Did we go through a light?" The officer came to my window and called me by name, well, the phonetic pronunciation. He seemed slightly confused as I told him he had the correct spelling but the pronunciation was different. He then proceeded to tell me my car was flagged as not having insurance. We had to open my trunk as I had left my purse in there during the concert. I showed him my insurance slip that had unfortunately expired a week ago. I assured him I did indeed have insurance but that the new slip was at home, yadda yadda yadda. It was all true but I didn't know if my sweetness and sincerity would fly. He "gave me a pass this time" and then I asked if I had done anything wrong. Apparently I lack a plate light which I didn't know I had to have. I think he was just reaching for a reason to pull this cutie over. Speaking of cute, Lisa was desperately searching for a ring on his finger. I was much relieved and drove on home. I found out later that the section of road I was pulled over in is crawling with police at night. I guess it is the bad part of town... if such a thing exists in this sleepy place.

March 31st will go down as my cop day, while my niece Parker will celebrate the day of her birth. Since being in Utah I've been pulled over twice. In fact, the only time I have ever been pulled over is in the United States. I guess Canadian cops like me or the USA brings me bad karma.