I had my first encounter with the traffic police today. It went like this:
I left the house at 8am this morning to go to the dentist on the YBR. I've had a big hole in my upper-left molar since a chunk of it fell out last week and needed to get it checked.
Things started off to be 'not so smooth' as I pulled away and instantly slammed to halt when the the front wheel lock hit the brake caliper, jolting my gonads into the petrol tank :eek2:. After removing the lock, I made my way six city blocks north to the dentist's place.
I was one block away when I had to stop for a red light at a big junction. I was stopped in the middle of the four lane road; the safest place to be right? I believe it to be the safest place but not from the traffic police though.
Two of them appeared in the middle of the junction and made their way towards me, waving me into the bike lane. I just stared at them, trying to play dumb until the lights went green again but they were soon standing right in-front of my bike. They asked me where my number plates were and then I started to feel worried :sad:. My plates have been delayed until tomorrow and I shouldn't be riding it until then. One of them simply snatched the keys out of the ignition :eekers: and told me to push my bike to the side of the road.
They followed me over there and asked me to show them my driving license, bike registration, certificate of purchase and something else that I didn't understand. I told them that I'd just bought it (a bit of a lie) and that my plates were supposed to have arrived already but, due to an unexpected delay, aren't here yet.
There was one thing that I found very funny about this situation: after I'd told them that I'd only just bought it they looked at my display to try and find the odometer. The key taker 'KT' stuck the keys back in the ignition and the display turned up with the time: 08:12. He looked at it for about ten seconds and I was wondering whether or not he would push the "select" button :rolleyes1:. That would have switched the display between 'time', 'trip 1', 'trip 2' and 'odometer' which would have read '209km'. They didn't find it though :lol8:. They just told me to go and get my documents.
A stroke of luck had blessed me with the location of this junction being only 100 meters away from the Yamaha shop where I bought the bike. I told this to the police and asked them to come with me to the shop to confirm everything but they just kept repeating themselves from behind their big aviator sunglasses:
"Driving license, bike registration, certificate of purchase.
Driving license, bike registration, certificate of purchase.
Driving license, bike registration, certificate of purchase."
I told them to look after my bike as I walked over the road to the Yamaha dealer. I explained the situation to the salesladies and they were, to my surprise, very helpful. A mechanic kitted up with a big blue Yamaha biker jacket walked with me back over to where the bike was but the police officer guarding my bike was a different one. Chatting was done between the officer and the mechanic, phone calls were made and then the mechanic went off somewhere to find the KT. Within roughly twenty minutes he was back with my keys :clap:. I asked him if the police caused him any trouble and whether or not I could do anything but he simply said "It was nothing" and sent me on my way. I was thirty minutes late for my meeting with my friend but at least there was no big deal made out of the whole thing. I got my tooth fixed fairly nicely in the end :icon10:.
I have been thinking to myself that I should have made a quick right hand turn as soon as I saw the police approaching. I might also have done well to give them the finger as I drove off :foff: even though this isn't something I'd usually do.
