It's not easy to pretend you don't speak French

I told you a few days ago that I always start my conversations with strangers telling them that I don't speak French very well and then continuing a lengthy conversation in French.  The last time I wrote it, it kind of made me laugh.  Well, when you tell a police officer that you don't speak French (without the "very well" part) you probably shouldn't continue in French.

It's true.  Less than a week after I found out about the 90 euro bike ticket, I was stopped by a couple of COWS. (That's what I call police officers on bikes.  Cops on Wheels.)  After going through yet another red light and beginning my journey down a one way street the wrong way I heard some frantic whistle blowing.  Wait, that sentence should start with "After looking around for policemen, then going through yet another red light..."  Apparently I didn't do a very good job of looking for the officers.  The whistles were for me.

I panicked.  I decided to say that I didn't speak French thinking that they might not know what to do with me.  Luckily, they didn't speak English.  Stupidly, I offered Italian and they didn't speak that either.  They asked if I understood the rules of the road and gestured to the one way street.  I pointed to the train station that I had almost illegally reached and said that I didn't know how else to get there.  Then I'd realized that I was speaking French and it was actually hard not to.  That was a strange one.  Finally I'd had the words that I'd wanted on the tip of my tongue and I couldn't use them.

A bit more gesturing and a pat on the arm (who do you suppose did the patting?) and I was released.  They told me that I had to go around the block and they stopped traffic to allow me to make a legal u-turn.  Off I rode stopping at the next three red lights, with 90 euros in my wallet, and enough time to catch the train to Versailles for a lunch of lentils and fish wrapped in bacon!