fines

i bumped into my ex-neighbour the other day. he'd just come to pick up some mail that, for some reason, still ended up here. and there were 9 letters from the Geneva fines department. all sent on the same day. it must be a computer mistake, i said, but apparently, all the numbers he could see in the little window were different. i suggested he open the letters. ... they were all different cases. all speeding tickets. the 3 he opened in front of me ranged between CHF 100 and CHF 250. and dated 2 years back! i guess the new agreements between France and Switzerland on cooperation for traffic offences driving coupled with the current economic situation means they're going back some time. but 2 years? every statement had a part asking whether he was the driver when these offences took place, but who would remember whether or not they were the ones driving down X road on a day 2 years ago? poor guy. the way things were looking, he was probably facing about CHF 2,000 worth of fines and that, is a lot of money.