Andrew's mother noted that any other dog who witnessed this would probably die of envy. We have to agree.
On the way back from the Victrola, passing this very spot, we decided to zip across the street to Sonic Boom to pick up the new Beirut record. We were just stepping off the curb when we noticed that the two motorcycle cops had returned to their bikes (you can see them parked in the video above) and were sitting astride them, donning their helmets. We couldn't quite bring ourselves to jaywalk right in front of them (they really do give tickets for that here, amazingly enough) but it seemed silly to just wait for them to ride away and then jaywalk right behind them.
We looked up and down the street: the nearest crosswalk was a block away -- just a little farther than we were willing to walk for our Beirut record. We considered bailing on the whole music purchase, but that seemed silly too.
By this time, the officers had noticed our dilemma and were clearly enjoying it -- even lingering deliberately, engines idling, to prolong it. After a brief stand-off, Mikala decided to take the bull by the horns. "You wouldn't really give us a jaywalking ticket if we walked across the street right now, would you?" she called out to them. "Not if you cross at the crosswalk!" one of them shouted back, over the roar of his engine. Laughter on all sides.
We finally arrived at a mutually face-saving compromise, whereby our party began to saunter slowly & theatrically toward the crosswalk. We clearly had no intention of actually going the distance, but this little charade gave our friends in blue the opportunity to pull away from the curb and move on to some presumably more critical business. Out of respect for their rear view mirrors, we waited until they had rounded the corner before looking both ways & crossing the street.
On further reflection, it might have been better to just walk to the crosswalk, already. But we were cold, and the kids were tired, and the record store was right there, and the traffic was minimal... And besides, this way we got to have such a long and interesting discussion with the children and their grandmother about traffic safety, rules and rule-breaking, cost-benefit analyses, discretionary law enforcement, mandatory sentencing, slippery slopes, face-saving, and strategies for managing authority figures.
All great stuff. Just as long they don't go using it against us, eh?
* * *
On the way back from the Victrola, passing this very spot, we decided to zip across the street to Sonic Boom to pick up the new Beirut record. We were just stepping off the curb when we noticed that the two motorcycle cops had returned to their bikes (you can see them parked in the video above) and were sitting astride them, donning their helmets. We couldn't quite bring ourselves to jaywalk right in front of them (they really do give tickets for that here, amazingly enough) but it seemed silly to just wait for them to ride away and then jaywalk right behind them.
We looked up and down the street: the nearest crosswalk was a block away -- just a little farther than we were willing to walk for our Beirut record. We considered bailing on the whole music purchase, but that seemed silly too.
By this time, the officers had noticed our dilemma and were clearly enjoying it -- even lingering deliberately, engines idling, to prolong it. After a brief stand-off, Mikala decided to take the bull by the horns. "You wouldn't really give us a jaywalking ticket if we walked across the street right now, would you?" she called out to them. "Not if you cross at the crosswalk!" one of them shouted back, over the roar of his engine. Laughter on all sides.
We finally arrived at a mutually face-saving compromise, whereby our party began to saunter slowly & theatrically toward the crosswalk. We clearly had no intention of actually going the distance, but this little charade gave our friends in blue the opportunity to pull away from the curb and move on to some presumably more critical business. Out of respect for their rear view mirrors, we waited until they had rounded the corner before looking both ways & crossing the street.
On further reflection, it might have been better to just walk to the crosswalk, already. But we were cold, and the kids were tired, and the record store was right there, and the traffic was minimal... And besides, this way we got to have such a long and interesting discussion with the children and their grandmother about traffic safety, rules and rule-breaking, cost-benefit analyses, discretionary law enforcement, mandatory sentencing, slippery slopes, face-saving, and strategies for managing authority figures.
All great stuff. Just as long they don't go using it against us, eh?
1 comment:
rebels
Post a Comment