"He got two tickets to ride and he don't care"

A lot of you have seen my disgustingly dirty little dictionaries.  Many of you have asked why I don't get new ones.  There's something about a nice, dirty, well-used one.  If you've ever thought a new one might make a nice gift, don't think about it anymore.  Part of the reason they are so dirty is the cross-referencing.  Once I look up a new word, it always leads me to something else and I can't stop myself.  Just like I can't stop myself at a red fire.

A red fire?  It's easy to figure out in context, but a bit more difficult without.  So, I already knew what the guy was trying to say, but I came home and cross-referenced anyway.  He was talking about a red light.  So, first I went to the "t's" for traffic. (Did you think I would go to the "l's" for light?)  When you get there it leads you to "traffic lights."  The word for that in French is "feux."  Then, instead of just stopping and being content with the fact that traffic lights are feux, I had to look up feux.  And.....voila!  What is a feu?  (no x on that one)  It's a fire!  What is a red fire?  It's a red light.  This guy would have been better off with no cross-referencing and sticking to the fact that traffic lights are feux instead of going to the next step and making his own translation.  Although, it's quite sweet, don't you think?

So, I was running in the rain this morning and I was pretty sure I passed a guy that had been pulled over on his bike.  You know the feeling you have when you're sitting in your car on the side of the road and the police are behind you in their car and you feel like everyone going by is looking at you, so you scrunch down a little in your seat to hide?  Well, there's nowhere to scrunch when you're on your bike in the rain and the police are behind you in their little truck with the blue light flashing. You just stand there getting soaked and hope it"s over soon.  The last thing you're hoping for is a dumb American girl to come up and start asking you questions.  But, you win some, you lose some.  Or in his case, you just lose some.

I had to know what happened.  So, in my normal fashion I said that I didn't speak French very well and asked if he spoke English.  He said, "Yes, a little" like they always do.  And then, as usual, I continued in bad French anyway.  Yes.  He really was pulled over on his bike.  He'd gone through a red fire.  It was 90 euros!  That's $120 for a bike ticket.  He warned me that if it ever happened to me to lie and say that I don't have a driver's license.  You can get points taken from your driver's license for a bike offense exactly the same as for a driving offense.  But, you don't need a license to ride a bike, so you lie.  That's just about when the three officers got back out of their little truck to present him with his ticket and I said, "Au revoir.  Be careful."

As you may have guessed, I promised myself on the way to school that I would not go through another red fire.  I've been looking at the people for three months just sitting there and I've always thought, "You're crazy.  There's no traffic.  Just go."  Well, I had decided to become one of the crazies.  But, it didn't work.  At the second light this morning (No, I'm lying.  I'm not kidding....it was the FIRST one!) I stopped and looked and then went through.  This was seconds after I'd reminded myself I wasn't going to do it anymore.  In fact, I'd left early to give myself extra time for all of these red fires.  The second light, I went through.  The third light, I caught myself and laughed and stopped.  It's not an easy habit to break.

I've decided that I've got to turn this into a game.  (I'm accepting suggestions.)  Count in French while I wait?  Pull out my camera and take a few pictures while I wait?  Have a list of new words in my pocket to learn while I wait?  The cross-referencing would keep me busy enough.

I hadn't come up with the game yet for the ride home and I caught myself going through the fires again.  It's bizarre.  I was cracking up.  So, near the end of my ride I decided to talk to the guy on the bike next to me while we waited.  The usual, "I don't speak French very well blah, blah, blah".  I just wanted to know if it was common.  Apparently, it is.  He's the first guy I asked and he's paid two 90 euro tickets.  We waited for the fire to go out and he said, "Au revoir.  Be careful." I kept my eye on him and he went through the next three fires.  He always looked back and smiled.  He got two tickets to ride and he don't care!