An Overly Difficult Day

My plan for today was simple. Do some washing, play some games, take my dog to the vet, sew my cushions. Surprisingly Mum had the day off work so instead we took advantage of her free morning and went down to get my learners permit (yes I'm almost 21 and still don't drive, I'm lazy like that).

We get down there, I'm confident and comfortable and happy to be getting this done. Sit in the waiting room for 40 minutes before we finally get called. First came the 10 minute questioning over if my birth certificate was real (my original got stolen when I was 2 and my replacement lacks watermarks but it was 1997 so, maybe times have changed?) which ended up with them deciding they didn't need it anyway because I had previously had a learners permit so it wasn't necessary (rage).

Move on to the surprise of, "You have an outstanding fine so you're ineligible to get your permit until it's paid". Queue my Mums and my stunned and angry faces. 

She explains that she can't see any details, just that we should call the 'Fines Dispute' phone, though it's always engaged, or go to the courthouse. Being a 9 minute drive away, we chose option B. 

We get down there, speak to a Justice of the Peace to have him tell us that the Fines Dispute office does not have a physical location. Greeeeat. However he can shed some light on some details. He can tell that the name was incorrectly spelt, the address is completely wrong, they gave a card number that I had never heard of, and got the fine on a train route that I don't take. Brilliant.

It was hard to be mad at the JoP as he was nice about the whole thing. Unfortunately for us we couldn't dispute it there or deal with it at all. He provided us with the same number, or take the more difficult option of going down to the transport office to dispute it. 

We ran out of time at this stage and simply went home angry and frustrated.

I get home, already feeling like things are just not working out today, maybe I accidentally broke a mirror? and the net is out. Can't even distract myself with games. Offline games also aren't working as my computer wont load programs for some unknown reason.

An hour later, with me crying inside, I rock up in the city to meet my boyfriend for lunch and head down to the transport office. Once there, the seemingly difficult day came to an end thankfully. Fine dismissed by the end of the week and I can continue on knowing I don't have to pay for a fine I never recieved. Come home, Mums temporarily destroyed the inside of the washing machine so scratch doing that, but the net is up finally and that's all I need.

So yeah, I had an eventful day. How'd yours go?

Cate

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