Spain, Sweet Spain!
We have had a gathering storm in Spain as the government has seen its reserves depleted. One response was to press the police into going after the softest target of all, the motorist, as a source of funds to pay salaries, etc. I have long complained about the act of bringing into disrepute the officer of the law by insisting that he act as a revenue officer, rather than the enforcer of the law.
Suddenly we found ourselves under strict inspection by large groups of police who seemed to be intent on fining us for any infringement at all, even down to the state of our tyres. I agree that it is important to drive on tyres that are in good condition, but I had never heard of police checks to inspect the tyres. Fines were threatened of up to 200 euros for each deficient tyre, so things could get very serious.
In days of old it was the highwaymen who stopped the passersby and demanded: “Who goes there? Hand over your purse!” Now, city hall has the police doing that. It was all being driven by the fact that we are in financial crisis, and that has led the government to look for ways to reduce spending. That makes sense, of course, so the government decided to cut the salaries of public workers and parliamentarians. Seems they forgot that the police are public workers too, and they are not pleased to have their salaries cut by 5%.
Drivers are somewhat amazed to be stopped by the police and informed of their offence and told what the fine is, then told to continue on their way without having to pay the fine. Apparently one senior officer said that some days they have not actually fined anyone. The situation looks to get worse. Naturally, that just suits the public, but we will soon slide into anarchy, and then it won’t seem so fine.
Meanwhile, Formula 1 rolls on, regardless of everyone’s financial worries, and in spite of the World Cup Soccer competition that will have a lot of Formula 1 spectators glued to their televisions watching football. Some admission tickets will sell at 2,800 euros each for the VIP Paddock Club section in the Valencia street circuit. Who is still making that kind of money that they can splash out on such extravagance? It must be nice work if you can get it.
If all you want to do is watch cars that are driven too fast, stand alongside the side of the A-7 any day of the week and catch the show.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
We have had a gathering storm in Spain as the government has seen its reserves depleted. One response was to press the police into going after the softest target of all, the motorist, as a source of funds to pay salaries, etc. I have long complained about the act of bringing into disrepute the officer of the law by insisting that he act as a revenue officer, rather than the enforcer of the law.
Suddenly we found ourselves under strict inspection by large groups of police who seemed to be intent on fining us for any infringement at all, even down to the state of our tyres. I agree that it is important to drive on tyres that are in good condition, but I had never heard of police checks to inspect the tyres. Fines were threatened of up to 200 euros for each deficient tyre, so things could get very serious.
In days of old it was the highwaymen who stopped the passersby and demanded: “Who goes there? Hand over your purse!” Now, city hall has the police doing that. It was all being driven by the fact that we are in financial crisis, and that has led the government to look for ways to reduce spending. That makes sense, of course, so the government decided to cut the salaries of public workers and parliamentarians. Seems they forgot that the police are public workers too, and they are not pleased to have their salaries cut by 5%.
Drivers are somewhat amazed to be stopped by the police and informed of their offence and told what the fine is, then told to continue on their way without having to pay the fine. Apparently one senior officer said that some days they have not actually fined anyone. The situation looks to get worse. Naturally, that just suits the public, but we will soon slide into anarchy, and then it won’t seem so fine.
Meanwhile, Formula 1 rolls on, regardless of everyone’s financial worries, and in spite of the World Cup Soccer competition that will have a lot of Formula 1 spectators glued to their televisions watching football. Some admission tickets will sell at 2,800 euros each for the VIP Paddock Club section in the Valencia street circuit. Who is still making that kind of money that they can splash out on such extravagance? It must be nice work if you can get it.
If all you want to do is watch cars that are driven too fast, stand alongside the side of the A-7 any day of the week and catch the show.
Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael
