The Thin Blue Line

13 December - A few firsts today - took my first cash job, when I went to pick up a trip at one place the guy handed me five bucks as well, not really an issue, didn't have any change for him or any receipts but he didn't seem to mind, I think the cash just gets deducted from my cheque at the end of the month. The other first was not so pleasant however, I was in a bit of a hurry and I raced two lights, just at the beginning of the red (i thought I only ran one red light) and there was no question of it being safe (from my point of view anyway) but next thing I knew I heard a digital blurp and a whoo and I turned around to see the flashing red and blue in an unmarked police car. I swore to myself silently and waited for the inevitable. The policeman was on his own and asked me if I knew what I did, I said, 'Yes, mate, and i've got no excuses for it'. 'You ran two red lights right in front of me so I had to pull you over.' Well, I thought it was only one light but I wasn't going to start arguing with him then. 'Yep, i'm sorry, I know it was wrong and I know there's no valid excuse.' He explained that he knew it was a business and that we had to rush but we also had to obey the la, it can be dangerous for the other traffic, pedestrians, me etc ... I agreed completely and told him so. He then asked me how many tickets i've had so far, I told him none (i didn't make any claims that i'd never run a red before) and maybe it was my honesty or maybe it was my charming Australian accent but he told me he'd let me off with a lecture but to be careful. A minute later I radioed my dispatcher and he immediately said, 'What'd you get pulled over for?' He has eyes EVEYWHERE!!! I told him and he asked me how many tickets I got, when I told him none, he couldn't believe it, 'WHAT??? No tickets???' A very good thing too because a ticket for running a red can be more than a day's pay - I was a bit paranoid for the rest of the day and was a bit more law abiding than usual (i'm always pretty safe but you just have to do a bit of footpath riding, light racing and wrong way down a one way streeting to get the job done) but i'm certainlygoing to be more aware of my surrounds after today. Had a bit of a chat with one of the lifers afterwards and he gave me some tips for beating the system if you do get a ticket but he agreed that honesty and admitting your wrong is always the best strategy for dealing with cops if you get caught out. Other than that, a pretty good day, very busy, went over to the south side twice so I did a lot of riding, can really see that my legs have swelled a bit in the past few months. My apprentices all seem to be doing pretty well and me and Nova Scotia Stu were given some sandwiches and juices from some very generous office catering people that passed us while we were sitting outside a building. Watched Cinderalla Man tonight as well, kind of enjoyble, I know its a true story but it felt like I was watching a 1930s version of Rocky that had worse training montages and a slightly more sepia brown colour scheme ... Don't recommend it.