I'm Back! In a Flash

As I drove home from the airport after a business trip last week, I thought how nice it was to be going home. Home! I don't know the language, am too loud and direct to be Swiss and still can't pick the right coin out my purse without looking at the back of it. But, this is home now. Ah, what a beautiful part of the world to live in, what a great job I have, I can't wait to get back to my cozy apartment, FLASH!

What????

A light akin to the one emitting from the Luxor flashed in my face. What...the....Oh. Poo. Remember when I said that I was sure to get a parking ticket before too long? I was wrong. It looks like it will actually be a speeding ticket.

As I was lost in my romantic reverie, I now know I failed to decelerate from 120 to 100 when the sign said so. In the ever-so-efficient and non-confrontational Swiss way, speeding tickets are generally sent by post and, from what I hear (and am soon sure to KNOW), the flash is telling foreshadowing of a nice fat bill in the mail.

Beside the fact that I nearly drove off the road, the flash was very effective in making me slow down. I had been paranoid about getting a speeding ticket until now, so had always been super attentive. See what happens when I get all gooey and romantic??? NOTE TO SELF.

I fretted for a bit about the impending expense, but soon figured out a way to perfectly rationalize the whole situation.

1. The ticket may never really come. (I am not counting on this one, so move on to 2.)
2. If you add up all the speeding miles and, therefore, time saved that I have had since my last ticket about 20 years ago, I am sure that this one will amortize out to be less than a penny a minute saved. Given that I hear you could buy a car for the cost of the speeding tickets here (but not MY car, I hope), then you know I have a bit of a speeding problem.
3. I was thinking of taking a weekend trip somewhere in February, but probably wasn't going to actually do it. So, now, if I don't really take the trip, then I pretend that I saved the cost of the trip to spend it on the ticket. Good, huh?
4. And, if all else fails the not-too-stringent logic test, I can count it as tuition. When I screw up, I've begun to think of the cost of my mistake as tuition for a learning experience. When I screw up the second time at the same thing, then I'm just plain mad. I do not have a graduate school for mistakes.

So, finally having made peace with my latest screw up, I stopped to fill up my gas tank for the first time. H-o-l-y cow! I actually looked to make sure the gas was not running out on the ground after the ticker hit CHF 80. As I paid the CHF 109.44 (about $125)--but, she did give me a 3.44 discount!--I was beginning to reconsider my decision to own a car. All I can say is that it had better be a 30-gallon tank.

So, I drove VERY slowly from the gas station to my house, ever vigilant for the pedestrians who don't even look to see if cars are coming before they dash into the crosswalk, because I frankly can't afford the litigation after the rest of my day. My spirits started to perk up as I drove the last few kilometers along the lake road before turning up the hill to my apartment. What a beautiful place. Once home, I walked to the living room window and looked out across the lake and made a realization...it's worth it.

At some point, you just have to succumb to it all. No need to rage against the machine...or Switzerland, in this case. It is what it is and....it is so worth it.

Uh oh, I'm getting all gooey romantic again sitting here on my couch. I wonder if I will get a charge for this?