So i goes for a little trip to burn off some of the fuel remaining above the hole in my tank (can i be arsed to siphon it? can i hell... haven't anything to put it in anyway), because the big ol' jam jar i was catching it in hasnt much room left. Just a trundle down the motorway and back at the limits, nothing extreme. End up on the M42 south just before where it's shut. Into the 50 zone, ease off from 70 to mid 50s (dont want to fall asleep). Minute or two later a Pug 205 zooms up from behind, suddenly cuts in front and slows down further than me, so i scoot round him - and dont watch my speedo so much while concentration on all the 'drama'. Don't spot the Gatso at the side of the road*, go under the gantry its positioned next to, there's white lines across the road, look down............... bugger, needle's on 60 (so doing... what... 58, 59 real speed if that), no time to react.... flash - flash. Dammit, dammit, dammit!!!
((* I know thats what it is rather than a digital gantry cam, because i turned at the next exit and came back with peeled eyes))
What with the other car to the left and a bit behind, do i stand a snowballs chance of the pic not being admissable as there were two vehicles on it? (I'd ask if anyone knew whether it was a "live" on, but let's face it.... 4am on a sunday, near-empty road, nearest workmen being more than a half mile away and well-lit.... the bugger's going to have TONS of film in it, it's an unmissable cash cow opportunity).... i'd ask also if i stood a snowball of convincing the court that it's too tiny an "offence" to be worth prosecuting (hey, what if i just pay the fine?) ... like borrowing someone's biro and forgetting to give it back is technically stealing.
Or is it molotov cocktail time, before some civil servant comes round monday lunchtime to collect the film (if its not digital...).
Can't beleive i might face 3 points and whatever stupid fine might be concocted for "speeding on a motorway" (heavier penalties, i know that much!) for fifty bloody eight miles per hour in those circumstances, when that other guy was doing at least 70 before and after, but just braked because he knew where the camera was (why the f*** didnt i figure out his game? =idiot=). Grrr. Suppose it may be deserved from various high speed blasts before, but i'd have preferred, yknow, to have *earnt* it. Got something I could frame and pass on to the car's next owner if they asked me if it was "fast enough". Though this way i suppose the penalties are likely more lenient. What might it do to my insurance though?? I was hoping it'd fall past £400 this year, got fat chance of that now
Between that and the more seriously speeding policeman making as if it wasnt no thang, im bloody well fed up. (If what i was doing was unsafe, then why were the workmen on the m6 what i filtered back onto on my way home allowed to set up site-illumination lights that shine right down the road like a pair of sodding HID full beams even when there's no-one there? rather than being under orders to aim them considerately? I could hardly see where i was going, surely that's more dangerous than a couple extra mph than the camera's trigger speed when there truly isn't anything to hit?)
Well they say this crap comes in threes, that should be the end of it. See you in court!
EDIT additional: I wonder how much £60 in pennies weighs and would cost to post in 60 separate envelopes holding a quid each...
