Parking ticket appeals
In my driving history I've probably accumulated 10 parking tickets over 39 years. Spread out over that time, that's not bad (no, I'm not counting the tickets I got when I attended college in Boston, when, in those blessed pre-computer days, you could ignore the tickets and switch to new license plates on visits home). And I've never appealed one until now but a cop recently ticketed me for parking too close to a hydrant and, when I questioned him, he said, "you were in my way." I don't think that a cop's pique is sufficient reason to get a ticket so I filed an appeal and went off to Town Hall today to argue it.

It was an almost painless process. I met a very nice guy named, I think, Bob Bishop who heard me out sympathetically, agreed with me that the cop was not behaving well but asked me how close I was to the hydrant. I confessed that I was certainly closer than the 10' demanded by law so he suggested cutting the $50 ticket to $25. Seemed fair to me and the matter was closed. Took 5 minutes.

So I got what could be perceived as an apology from the town for the peevishness of their officer and I paid for my sins. Here's a picture of the scene of the crime. You'll notice that the offensive policeman is a gentleman in his late 50's. Anyone that age still wearing shorts and directing traffic probably has suffered some career disappointments along life's path, but that's
no reason to be a jerk, in my opinion.