Saturday, November 12, 2005

Grasping at Straws...

P was away for the past two days visiting branches in the south of the country and came home with quite a harrowing story. The powers that be have declared that starting yesterday, cars with tinted windows are illegal, because, of course if you have tinted windows in a country that regularly bakes in 40 degree C heat in the summer, you must be either A. corrupt or B. a criminal. Oh that makes so much sense to me. This is such a logical follow-up law to last month's new declaration that all motor boats are now illegal for the same reasons as above. Because who in their right minds would want to enjoy the incredibly beautiful Adriatic seacoast purely for pleasure? These men just think so clearly- where did they go to law school? Harvard?


So... P arrived home wearing a little smirk on his face. On the drive back from the south, our car was stopped twice by machine-gun (P says maybe sub-machine gun-haha!) toting policemen demanding payment of a fine (it's the equivalent of 200 USD- more than the monthly salary of an average Albanian!) and immediate confiscation of the vehicle. Somehow, and with many phone calls, they let him go after about 1/2 hour. I won't copy you on what the police were saying in Albanian about P and his nice car under their breath, but P's secretary later let him know their sentiments, which needless to say, were quite derogatory and mildly threatening. Not nice.


I just had an aha! moment! Here's my theory-- with blackouts occuring several times everyday, and for the whole day in many parts of the country, perhaps the gavernment is just thinking of our own safety. No street lights, combined with dark windows, makes for rather dangerous driving conditions don't you think? With no lights to guide you home, you need all the starlight available to light those fantastic crater-sized potholes in the roads.


I don't want to sound too critical of the government- they have a job to do and fighting corruption is obviously at the top of their list, which is a good thing. But it seems they are grasping at straws.


"Oh Mr. PM, by the way, we arrested a criminal who was driving a boat today" says the deputy.

"Aha- let's make motorboats illegal!"

"Oh Mr. PM, we caught 3 corrupt guys in a car with tinted windows today".

"Okay then, obviously tinted windows must be made illegal!"

And finally, "We've captured a house full of crooks using electricity!"

"So cut it off!"



I'm glad P got home safely (and with the car).

4 comments:

melusina said...

Yeeshk, that sounds a bit scary. I'm glad he got home safely and with the car too! Are you going to detint the windows? How does one detint windows??

Maybe the government should start looking closely inside their ranks for all the criminal activity and corruption. =p

ITS said...

I know what it was now. The Harvard reference -- totally uncalled for. I have an allergy for Ivy League name-dropping.

Who goes to Ivy Leagues these days? It's mostly buttheads, and rich Jewish kids. Not that there is anything wrong with that. :)

I can see why the sarcasm has taken its toll on you though.

Choco Pie said...

She wasn't name dropping. I think you missed the point, ITS.

Glad that P made it back safely. Sounds like a frightening situation.

Cynthia Rae said...

Just as I was rolling my eyes at our government's latest stunt, I read your blog. It sounds like you might just have it worse then we do (when it comes to the government).

I bet that ALL of these criminals were also wearing pants. Be careful, pants might be outlawed soon!