The down side to travel

Oh boy! Yes there is a down side to travel! For one thing, when travelling by plane you should make sure you keep all your exess hand luggage to a minimum! Like if you've got your own hand luggage and both your kid's wardrobes squeezed into pint size cases to avoid paying for checked luggage and a sleeping child to get on and off the plane... You'd better get that book you're reading stashed back in your own bag long before the plane lands!
I can't believe I lost a library book on the plane!
It was a Quarterly essay I'd specifically asked the library to purchase, I was the first borrower and I left it on the plane! I realized as soon as I reached the gate but it was too late, by the time the hostess managed to check my seat it was gone!

That was the first thing.... There's more

These days I hardly ever drive, I've become quite comfortable riding my bike and would have gladly caught trains during the holiday but was talked into hiring a car!!! (Well not talked into it really but that other thing that happens to some married when the man has an idea and the woman has kind of a different idea and they really should discuss all the pros and cons of both ideas, but something happens between having the idea in the first place and that moment when the man finaly give up and does what he's told!)

So we're getting around pretty easily in our 4 door Toyota hatch-back, doing 101 things in the ample 15 hours of daylight that Vicoria provides at this time of year, and I'm trying to squeeze in a few extra curricular activities like visiting relatives who happen to live along the way. So I drop half the clan off in St Leonards to get an Ice Cream and zoom back to a cousins house to introduce them to my 2 year old, and wham! An unmarked Police Motorcycle gets me doing way too much speed in a stretch of road I was sure used to have a very different speed limit!
He asked me if I'd like to see the reading but I just grunted... "Nope... I believe you... You got me!"
What a bummer!

Then today when I'd barely recovered from the fact that I am broke and I owe the library a book + processing fees and trying to figure out if I'm pissed that I got a huge speeding fine or grateful that I didn't loose my drivers licence, I get a call from home....

She "Hey do you remember when we sold the car?"
Me "Ohh I dunno... why" (It's my usual response and usually correct... I rarely know or remember specific details like obscure dates or what day it is!)
She "Well something arrived in the mail today..."
Me (naively) "Derrr, ummm... What is it?" (half hoping it was some kind of award for being a nice guy or that Trek bike I've been waiting to win from Ride-to-Work day.... It wasn't)
She "A speeding fine!"
Me "Humphfffffffff.... fck, aow..... (Long pause for silent humiliation as sense of complete defeat and uselessness sets in....) hmf.... "

The 'offence' was committed back in September! We tried to recall when we'd sold the car, hoping that it was all a mistake and that I could gleefuly pass on the bad news to the new owners. Of course it was definitely me... again! I was really busy at work doing a spate of really long days, running people all over town in the little red buble with no airconditioning... So I was rushing and they got me! Damnit!
Why did they send this fine so long after the fact? Do fines get lonely and need to travel in pairs? Were they hanging on to it until it could do the most damage to my self esteme and my wallet? Was this some kind of punnishment for doing bad things in another state? (Victoria I mean) Why the hell are they sending me this now? It's cruel and wrong! Ohhh the shame... Ohhhh the annoyance! Ohhh the waste... Oh the money!

It's already been really difficult to go back to work, I've been wondering all sorts of crazy stuff like could I survive without going back at all? I've dragged my ungrateful ass through each day of this week and now this just had to happen to top it off. (Sorry work guys... it's nothing personal I'm just in a bit of a funk at the moment.)

I'd even put off buying some much needed mud guards that I'd been covetting for the past couple of months! I didn't buy them before we left because I had no extra money and we came back to the residual weather of a Tropical Low. I've been riding to work in torrential rain every day this week! (Actualy I really like it but could use a decent set of mud guards...) So thinks I, I shall part with the cash and get me a shiny new set of lovely Mudguards! I go to the only shop int town that stocks them and wouldn't you know it, they were closed for the week.
Now I find that I couldn't have afforded them anyway because I've effectively blown 4 months savings on speeding fines! I can't believe it! I usually drive so slow (the speed limit actually) that I have cars tailgating me all over Darwin yet in the 3 months that I've spent the least time behind the wheel I get busted for speeding twice!

"Waaaa Waaa!" Somebody call the Waaambulence!
RESOLUTION: Don't drive any more...