My newest friend

Yesterday, I met friends for lunch, and was driving back to campus for the Sunday evening Eucharist.  I didn’t think that the traffic police worked on Sunday evenings; I was wrong.  An officer waved me over.  

I was interested to see why he pulled me over: they don’t have speed guns, I wasn’t on the phone, and had my seat belt on.  

He waved me over because my windscreen (windshield was cracked).  This is how the conversation went:

Officer: Did you know that your windscreen is cracked?  I’m going to write you a receipt [ticket] for it.
Me: I did know; I’m sorry; I just purchased the vehicle from another missionary [trying to drop hints].

Officer:  You did?  Me: Yes.

Officer:  It’s illegal to have a cracked windscreen [probably true, though you’d never know it from the state of windscreens here].  I’m going to write you a receipt for 60,000 shillings [$24], and you pay at the bank.

Me: OK; which bank?  [because sometimes the government makes you use a bank that doesn’t have a branch in Mukono; I was wondering when I was going to have time to pay.]

Officer:  Diamond Trust [ugh – no branch here] or Stanbic [yay – branch here].  Me:  OK, thank you.

Officer: Let me see your driving permit.  [I handed him my new Ugandan driving license; I have to confess that he examined it for what seemed like longer than necessary; I assume he was processing the fact that this mzungu had a Ugandan driving license!]

Officer:  What country are you from?  Me: the US.

Officer:  The US?  Isn’t it bad to have a cracked windscreen in the US?

Me:  Yes, it is [not getting into that in Virginia, it depends on how big the crack is and whether it impedes your vision].

Officer:  You take me to the US sometime.
Me:  [laughing]  I’m going in September.

Officer:  Good; you take me.
Me:  Will you fit in my luggage?

Officer:  OK, since we are friends, I won’t write you a receipt, but you need to get the windscreen fixed.

So, no fee to pay, but now I need to get the windshield fixed.  Ah... the joys of ownership... but the liberty I feel, and the ability to easily visit my students at their placements, is well worth it.