princess genevieve

jeudi, novembre 01, 2007

I was controled!

There are some things I use the French word for, even in English. Control is one of them. In this instance, it doesn't mean control like in English. Instead, it means that your ticket was checked on public transportation. (Or, your passport was checked by immigration officers, or something along those lines.) See why I prefer the French word? So much easier to say "I was controlled" instead of "My ticket was checked by an official."

Which is exactly what happened this morning. When you ride the tram, you are basically on the honor system to pay. I always pay. Certain friends of mine make fun of me for paying, but what can I say, I'm American, and for the most part, we like to follow rules. (I don't enter through exit doors, either, which is also something Europeans will do with some frequency, and I like orderly lines instead of mass chaos to board things like planes)

Anyway. Today is a holiday in Belgium, so the office is closed, but it's not a holiday in Washington, so I am at work. So I got up as usual, got on the tram, put my ticket in the validating box, and sat down with my book. At the next stop, police got on and controlled everyone's tickets. And since mine was validated, I was fine, and I didn't get a fine.

This is the first time I have been controlled in Brussels, but I used to get controlled a lot in Paris. I don't know why people roll the dice in Paris - it seems like you might get caught more times than not.

Soyez prudent! Validate your tickets and you won't have a problem if you get controlled.

And now we return to our regularly scheduled Genevieve, the one who speaks in English and not this weird franglais she has created for herself.

Libellés :

2 Comments:

At 11/01/2007 11:02 AM, Blogger Unknown said...

I could never ride without paying either, us uptight Americans *laugh* Is the fine steep? Perhaps if it isn't too high the cost evens out if you don't get caught very often for not paying?

I still say some things in German instead of English as well, though usually I don't realize that I wasn't using the German word. Weird.

 
At 11/01/2007 8:18 PM, Blogger Paisley said...

The fines for fare evasion here are too steep (up to $500) for me to contemplate travelling without a ticket. I'd be paranoid the whole time that I'd get caught out by the "Customer Service Officers".
Don't get me started.....

 

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