I guess guilt was his downfall

Here in NZ, 'boy racers' are those young, disrespectful punks that have loud engines and leave tire marks on the road at all hours of the day or night--mostly, night.

And, in just about every neighborhood, there is one house that has one boy racer associated with it. Ours is no different. That house is the one that has cars parked all over the yard garden with little kids' toys strewn about.

Most of the time there is no problems between neighbors, but on weekends, there is an extra car that shows up and, upon its departure, drives around the block with its loud muffler, spinning tires and being annoying in the wee hours of the morning. I just put up with being awakened now and then, thinking there wasn't much to be done.

Then....

I had an idea.

I figured anything was worth a shot, so I went with it. I would let them think I was taking pictures of this particular car and then let them assume whatever they liked about what would happen with said pictures.

So, the next weekend, I waited until I heard a noisy car stop at 'that' house and then I stood on the porch front sun room and pointed my camera their way and let the flash go off several times, making sure they saw it as they 'worked' on the engine. Then I waited until the car drove past my house and made sure the flash went off a few more times as they went by.

The pictures were quite blurry and certainly didn't show any distinguishing details, but they apparently did the trick.

I haven't heard that loud car at any wee hours since. I guess guilt on their part worked to my definite advantage.

Some good news about Taranaki...

I mentioned in an earlier post that Christchurch was cracking down on boy racers and I'm pleased to know that New Plymouth followed suit! Sadly, the article below says they are going out into the countryside towns (which we have noticed in Stratford) but I hope they just get tired of spending all their money on petrol to get to the smaller towns and give up.

Personally, I think the speedways should be opened,at the District's expense, once a week and let them wreck their cars themselves. It would pay off big time.

Boyracer nuisance goes bush

By LEIGHTON KEITH and RYAN EVANS - Taranaki Daily News

Boyracers are going country.

Chased off New Plymouth's streets by a new bylaw and the fear of their cars being crushed, boyracers are playing havoc in the countryside....

He urged people to take down vehicle descriptions and registration plate numbers where possible. "We will actively follow up any written complaint."...

Earlier this year, the New Plymouth District Council adopted a bylaw banning cars at night from Bell Block's De Havilland Drive and Connett Rd. The Government has also addressed the problem, allowing authorities to confiscate and crush the cars of repeat offenders.

Speaking for boyracers, New Plymouth woman Shayna Dreaver, 20, said the shift to rural roads was because there was now too much risk involved in the city..

She said boyracers were worried about getting caught since the Government introduced new "car crushing" legislation last year. "It [the car] is like their baby, they saved up to make it and now it's just getting crushed."

Read more here. http://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/4201039/Boyracer-nuisance-goes-bush

Random thoughts...

We went to KFC the other day and I noticed that there were actually all the chicken parts in the box! I know that's probably weird for you to read, but after having only seen legs and thighs for a long, long time, it's a nice change. Makes you wonder what they were doing with the rest of the bird....

The main street in Stratford is quite wide--two lanes of traffic, angle parking on either side of the street and a no-man's lane in the middle. Come to find out that it was intentionally made wide enough to turn a team of horses around anywhere on the road without a problem.

I can buy a tiny bottle (about 2 or 3 ounces) of isopropyl alcohol here for $4.00. A bit different from the huge bottles in Wally World for a buck. Some things you just have to learn to live without.

The schools here have many problems. They used to have 'subs' for the high school at a set fee, but now our local high school has changed to a new accounting system and we can't make heads or tails of it. They told Missy that there's no way they can send out 2 statements for any child--like we are the only divorced parents in the country! I'm not a computer expert, but I know it wouldn't take much to copy the one statement and address an envelope. Sheesh.

Speaking of schools, what exactly do they do with the $75 exam fee for each student that is pretty much mandatory? They can preach about costs of the test all they want, but I'm not crazy enough to think it takes that much to print and grade one stinking test.

Boy racers are a problem here in NZ. You have to have identification of the driver before you can complain and expect anything to be done. [Of course, the government can send you a bill for using the new highway in Auckland based solely on your tag number, no matter who's driving. Personally, I don't see the difference.]  I think that if these boy racers are caught driving recklessly more than once, their cars should be crushed, but that 's just me. I was happy to read that the city council of Christchurch is finally taking some responsibility and banning boy racers. Good on ya, Christchurch! You can read the article here.  I hope every city council in the country follows suit.

In an earlier post about tv ads, I tutted the ad for hydroponics, implying I'm smart enough to know it's not used for tomatoes. Well, that company was raided (duh) and you can read about it here.

Sometimes I wonder why Kiwis think they all have to be right all the time. Don't they know that they are human and we expect them to be wrong occasionally? Maybe that's why there are so many stress-related ailments that need attention. I think an 'I'm sorry, I made a mistake' is much better medicine than OTC Losec.

Somebody found an old, dusty law that prohibits helicopters from landing in urban areas. Now the emergency chopper in New Plymouth has to land 13k from the hospital and the hanger that was designed for it, be met my an ambulance and then the patient driven to the hospital. Kinda makes you want to go 'hmmmmm'.