Learning Lessons ........Again!
Without Pain
It happened to me again this past week. The police were conducting a blitz on foreigner’s documentation through stopping foreigner’s vehicles. As I drove along there was a car ahead of me that was driven by a mature Spaniard. He passed three policemen who got him to slow down, then waved him on without stopping. Then I came into the zone and immediately the policemen became animated.
They indicated that I was to pull over. Here I was, a black man actually driving a car. By the way they came alive they were not expecting this development at all. Now, I have to tell you that on every occasion I have had to deal with the police they have been models of professionalism. I have nothing but praise for what I describe as a good bunch of professionals.
These guys evidently expected they had netted the jackpot. They seemed uncertain what question to ask me first because in their minds, the last time they thought they saw me was coming ashore as an illegal alien. Call the tow truck, call the paddy wagon, this one’s going straight to jail.
Did I have a passport? Yes. O.K. Let’s check that. Checked and found to be in order.
Do you actually have a driver’s license? Yes. A Spanish permiso! Must be a forgery. Oh Damn! That checks out as being legitimate. Damn! Damn! Damn!
Patience Miguel! Patience my ass! I want to arrest this fella for something.
Are you registered on the Central registry of Foreigners in Spain? Yes. Here is the Certificate.
Is this your car? Yes. These are the documents that show that it has had its latest ITV; these are the insurance certificates and the Permission to Circulate.
What is your job? I don’t work. I’m retired.
Me carga en la leche! This cannot be! There are Spaniards driving around lacking in this or that piece of document, and here’s this fella who is completely covered and legitimate.
Throughout all of this I was calm and conversational, and from my standpoint I was not bothered in the least. The facts are that there are a great number of people here in Spain who aren’t properly documented. They drive cars without insurance, and without having been properly imported into the country. They don’t even have Spanish plates. These are the people whom the police were actually looking for, and such people are a menace to other road users. So, good luck to them to pull such people off the road.
I was driving my old beat up work-horse of a Volvo, that I love. Can you imagine had I pulled up in my Jaguar Sovereign. They would likely have had a heart attack.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
It happened to me again this past week. The police were conducting a blitz on foreigner’s documentation through stopping foreigner’s vehicles. As I drove along there was a car ahead of me that was driven by a mature Spaniard. He passed three policemen who got him to slow down, then waved him on without stopping. Then I came into the zone and immediately the policemen became animated.
They indicated that I was to pull over. Here I was, a black man actually driving a car. By the way they came alive they were not expecting this development at all. Now, I have to tell you that on every occasion I have had to deal with the police they have been models of professionalism. I have nothing but praise for what I describe as a good bunch of professionals.
These guys evidently expected they had netted the jackpot. They seemed uncertain what question to ask me first because in their minds, the last time they thought they saw me was coming ashore as an illegal alien. Call the tow truck, call the paddy wagon, this one’s going straight to jail.
Did I have a passport? Yes. O.K. Let’s check that. Checked and found to be in order.
Do you actually have a driver’s license? Yes. A Spanish permiso! Must be a forgery. Oh Damn! That checks out as being legitimate. Damn! Damn! Damn!
Patience Miguel! Patience my ass! I want to arrest this fella for something.
Are you registered on the Central registry of Foreigners in Spain? Yes. Here is the Certificate.
Is this your car? Yes. These are the documents that show that it has had its latest ITV; these are the insurance certificates and the Permission to Circulate.
What is your job? I don’t work. I’m retired.
Me carga en la leche! This cannot be! There are Spaniards driving around lacking in this or that piece of document, and here’s this fella who is completely covered and legitimate.
Throughout all of this I was calm and conversational, and from my standpoint I was not bothered in the least. The facts are that there are a great number of people here in Spain who aren’t properly documented. They drive cars without insurance, and without having been properly imported into the country. They don’t even have Spanish plates. These are the people whom the police were actually looking for, and such people are a menace to other road users. So, good luck to them to pull such people off the road.
I was driving my old beat up work-horse of a Volvo, that I love. Can you imagine had I pulled up in my Jaguar Sovereign. They would likely have had a heart attack.
Copyright © 2011 Eugene Carmichael
