Keeping Tabs

One advantage of owning a working old car is that the cost of operation can be quite low. Monthly lease or loan payments are a distant memory, and, unless the car is a collectible, there’s no need to purchase collision insurance. Also, in California the cost of a smog check need not be incurred if the car is over 32 years old. Yes, neighbor, while you're driving to work in your very nice luxury SUV, I'll be collecting my early retirement check.

But today I had to put my chortle on hold. The plastic sticker that denotes the month of registration (the one for the year is replaced annually, of course) had become illegible after decades of exposure to sun and rain. A Foster City patrol officer finally noticed and wrote a $25 ticket for “tabs on vehicle”. In most other cities the police would have more pressing concerns, but that’s the price one pays for living in a town where the year’s big police story is about how they pulled a drunk driver from the lagoon © 2008 Stephen Yuen

I suppose the tab on the left is looking a bit worn.

© 2008 Stephen Yuen