Last week Julie got called into the principal’s office.Okay, it wasn’t exactly the principal’s office. It was her boss’ office. Oh, and the boss didn’t call her into his office, he stopped by to visited her. And okay, it wasn’t him, it was actually his administrative assistant. But close enough.
When she came into Julie’s health office, the administrative assistant plopped down onto the desk a picture. In the picture were several students in ICS uniforms on the sidewalk a hundred yards from our school. Also in the picture was a blond woman. “Is this you?”
Well how many five-foot-six women do you know that are living and working in the Shek Mun neighborhood? Julie thought.
“It’s pretty obvious it’s me,” Julie confessed. “What’s going on?”
Turns out some Citizen Do-gooder, had used his cell phone to snap a picture of our local scofflaws. It seems that some of ICS’s students have been walking -not on the asphalt foot path- but the adjacent bike path. Citizen do-gooder submitted the incriminating photograph to the local police who then forwarded it to our school so that the appropriate actions could be taken. The appropriate action of course was to do absolutely nothing other than to show Julie the picture and embarrass her.
Julie made the mistake of telling the little story to Elise who is our own one-woman Gestapo. Now whenever we are out, Elise makes sure that we are riding on the bike path and walking on the pedestrian path.
Next thing you now, Julie’s going to be receiving a fine for spitting in a gutter.
-Jack
Hong Kong is a surprisingly law-abiding and orderly place which most days we really do appreciate.
Oh, so Julie's the one to blame! Not long ago, as Alex and I were riding home, we noticed all these new signs in only Chinese put up at the end of the cul de sac walkway between the two Wong Kam Fai schools where the sidewalk meets the bike trail on the way to the train. I couldn't read them but I told Alex we'd better stop riding bikes on the cul de sac or even the sidewalks in front of the schools. So, we've been going around the other way, still on the sidewalk, but along the main street. I guess we could still get a ticket since technically, you're not supposed to ride on the sidewalk, hmm...
ReplyDeleteIn my defense, I just happened to be in the picture of ICS P.E. students blocking the path. I don't think they were trying to get a picture of me and I didn't have on anything identifying me as an ICS employee. Hey, I could work at HKBU! That being said, it was a bit humbling to have my picture shown to me by my boss's administrative assistant. Oops!
ReplyDeleteWell, Julie, if you're going to be a rebel, I guess that a foreign country is the best place to do so. I imagine that Rick may be one of Scotland Yard's most wanted for failing to pay his TV tax in 1994. Keep this up and you two may have to go on the run together!
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