Today was a great day. I got pulled up for going through a red light. Now in my defense the light was green as kiwi grass (as opposed to Australian grass which can be many colours but seldom green). But, there was only five seconds left on the traffic-light counter-downer and by the time I got to the cops 30 metres the other side of the intersection the lights were, in all probability, as red as an Aussie desert.
Anyway, I digress. This was a great day. This would be the very first time in 18 months of living here that I have seen the police attempt to inforce a farely well known rule: if the light is red, then please stop. I was pulled over together with a couple of young ladies on their bike, who appeared to be stunned beyond words, and a Khmer bloke who most definitley ran the red. He paid the 5000 riel ($2 NZ) and was away.
The girls remained flapping mullets, stunned. I was initially peeved but then became so happy. On this day, at one set of lights in this city of 1.5 million, one group of local constabluary are pulling over red-light runners and white boys who are close enough to call it 2 bucks. Great! I eventually offered the 3200 riel or so that was in my top pocket (which seemed a better scheme than admitting that I had a wallet in my pants pocket) and continued with a happy heart :-)
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