Funny how things can go from teeny tiny to ten ton.

Ok - so back in February I got pulled over for a burned out headlight.

Truthfully I didn't think I would get a ticket. The policeman asked me for my license and registration, took about 20 minutes to write up a ticket and then handed it over to me and drove off.

The only other time I got pulled over was about 10 years ago when I went through a yellow light and got a lengthy lecture about the perils of running yellow lights - not helping matters was the fact I was with two of my girlfriends and we'd just come back from the beach and were all wearing bathing suits!

But anyway, I send the ticket in for appeal because quite frankly the officer should have just told me to fix it and bring the car by the station the next day to show that it was fixed. Apparently that is the usual deal.

(Here in Massachusetts if you get a moving violation, no matter what it's for, it goes on your record and pushes up the cost of your insurance for something like seven years.So everyone appeals, no matter what.)

After a while I begin to wonder about this ticket that I sent in. Not hearing from the court is just as bad as hearing from them.

To make a long and boring story short:

- The court mailed me a hearing date, which I didn't get because...
- The post office coded the envelope wrong which resulted in....
- The hearing notice being sent back to the court marked "Undeliverable" which....
- Meant that I unintentionally skipped the hearing which resulted in....
- A notice being sent to the Registry of Motor Vehicles to....
- SUSPEND my drivers license!

In order to fix this problem I had to:

- Go to the clerk's office at the Court and request a second hearing which....
- I was really lucky to get at all! Then I had to take that notice to....
- The Registry of Motor Vehicles stand in line for a ticket to...
- Talk to the Suspension teller who then ...
- Referred me to the Hearing Officer who....
- Put a note in the system to not suspend my license and to...
- Generate a second hearing!

Evidently I have to wait another 4-6 weeks for a hearing, but you can bet that I will be calling the clerk's office every other day in 2 weeks time!

Not to mention the hullaballoo I had to raise at the post office. But that is another post for another day.

This is why people try to evade the po-po.

What a pain!