irritatingly conscientous
A few months ago, the council finally adopted the road our flat sits on and started enforcing the double yellow lines painted everywhere. The lines are actually a good idea in many places as people were parking with absolutely no regard for others and causing some safety hazards. More importantly, they were preventing the dustbin lorries from getting down the road and therefore collecting the rubbish. This was not a good thing. Apparently they also caused problems with fire engines but I didn't see any evidence of that.
However, some of the lines are painted in places which, to all common sense, look like parking bays and seem a little like overkill and an attempt from the developer to sell more underground parking bays at about £10K a pop.
Being a good little boy, I have obeyed the double yellows since they were painted a year or so ago and have certainly not gone near them since the council started enforcing them. I have to admit to a certain schadenfreude when the enforcement started and loads of people suddenly got slapped with parking fines whereas I, having been parking a five minute walk away for months, got nothing.
However, last night we got back from the festival (Invasian: Family - not bad but not very good) at about 11pm and I was going out at 7am for my walk in the Pentlands. So, I thought, leaving the car parked in one of the parking bay areas that happens to have a double yellow for 8 hours over a Saturday night can't be that heinous an offense and surely no traffic wardens are operating after midnight on a Saturday.
Of course, sod's law struck and at 3:59am the traffic wardens came down the street and ticketed me and 5 other vehicles. So, a £30 fine for the sake of a 5 minute walk and I feel rather foolish.
I don't usually complain about speed cameras and traffic wardens as I think they do a useful job but in this case, I feel a little aggrieved. I also have my suspicions about the priorities of the company involved as far as revenue raising vs safety enforcement goes.
Still, my hat goes off to the warden or wardens prepared to wander the streets of Leith at 4am on a Saturday just to ticket a few cars. Oh, and I paid the fine at 11am just to show that there were no hard feelings.
However, some of the lines are painted in places which, to all common sense, look like parking bays and seem a little like overkill and an attempt from the developer to sell more underground parking bays at about £10K a pop.
Being a good little boy, I have obeyed the double yellows since they were painted a year or so ago and have certainly not gone near them since the council started enforcing them. I have to admit to a certain schadenfreude when the enforcement started and loads of people suddenly got slapped with parking fines whereas I, having been parking a five minute walk away for months, got nothing.
However, last night we got back from the festival (Invasian: Family - not bad but not very good) at about 11pm and I was going out at 7am for my walk in the Pentlands. So, I thought, leaving the car parked in one of the parking bay areas that happens to have a double yellow for 8 hours over a Saturday night can't be that heinous an offense and surely no traffic wardens are operating after midnight on a Saturday.
Of course, sod's law struck and at 3:59am the traffic wardens came down the street and ticketed me and 5 other vehicles. So, a £30 fine for the sake of a 5 minute walk and I feel rather foolish.
I don't usually complain about speed cameras and traffic wardens as I think they do a useful job but in this case, I feel a little aggrieved. I also have my suspicions about the priorities of the company involved as far as revenue raising vs safety enforcement goes.
Still, my hat goes off to the warden or wardens prepared to wander the streets of Leith at 4am on a Saturday just to ticket a few cars. Oh, and I paid the fine at 11am just to show that there were no hard feelings.