Thugged

I go through bouts of being so anti-social and downright hostile. Or maybe I'm just not having a good day with the city.

Today, two men knocked on our door. They were burly looking. I say they were thugs. They wore city uniforms but drove an unmarked car. They simply double-parked, knocked on our door and demanded that I pay them $239. That's for not paying for our front-pad parking for the last two years.

They said, "You owe this amount. Now what are you going to do about it?"

I said, "Nothing. Since when does the city send people out to collect at the door? Why are we the only borough paying for parking on our own front lawn when the rest of the City of Toronto doesn't?"

I was about to demand to see their ID and phone the city to see if they really send out officers to collect for parking permits. Then The Man stepped in with his own complaint about the neighbours across the street who keep parking anywhere they want using a handicapped sticker. This is the same family that parks a tow truck in front of our drive so we can't get out and gets away with it because they stick the handicapped sticker on the tow truck. How many handicapped people operate a tow truck?

The Man aired his complaint. The thugs said, "We can't do nothin' about that." The Man gave them a cheque. The thugs got back into their car. I called out to The Man and the thugs, "Did you at least check their ID?" But the thugs drove away.

On principle, I have refused to pay to park on our own front pad. At least the cheque was made payable to Treasurer, City of Toronto.

Then I went to Candidate's office to help out. A friend and I mounted a sign to identify her office. It was good to be doing something useful and I felt less hostile to the world after.