Daily Prompt: Fight The Power

Tell us about a time when you fought authority and took a stand against “the man.” Did you win?

Dagenham

The story of my life, I do not do authority, I am the authority. Not that I would take chances on an English road. That is a mystery and I would not touch a car in England. It all began when my friend asked me if I wanted to drive, because automatically I wanted to climb into the driver’s seat. They not only drive on the wrong side of the road in England, but the cars are made the other way round. I do not think I would ever be able to shift gears with my left hand, although I basically only drive automatic. Even my feet have forgotten to co-operate in changing gears. This particular crossroad was just around the corner from where my dad is now living.

To return to following the rules, rules are not my thing, I make them. I basically question everything. I remember when I left school at the age of 18 and had been working at least three months. The British government had been deducting my tax from my wages, according to the good old English system, and then I get a form to fill out. I have to take this form to my old school and get the signature of the head mistress to prove that I have left the school and am now working. Sorry, but this is pure officialdom. I pay the taxes that the government take from my wages and now they ask me to visit my old school to prove that they are doing it correctly. Needless to say I wrote on the form with a few sharp words, asking if they were still in possession of their senses and had no intention of visiting my old school. That was the last place I wanted to revisit, and I am sure they no longer wanted me there. I heard no more and life continued.

Life in Switzerland is according to a rule book, but me not being originally Swiss, I just ignore most of the rules and for something I have Mr. Swiss. Only last week I had a funny card put through the door from the lady opposite. She has now planted her new herb garden. It looks OK, although the design reminds me more of a snake pit than a garden, various large stones hollowbricks filled with earth. To continue, she had a problem with my felines. Of course, fresh earth: it was an invitation to dig, bury the recycling process and take possession. I showed my felines the scribbles on the card, they even looked at it, but decided to take a sleep and it was ignored (I think they can only read meow). In the meanwhile, probably because she did not receive an answer from the felines, she has planted a sort of a feline repellent siren which makes a whistling noise, only to be detected by the sensitive ears of a cat. I think it works and even I hear it sometimes. Needless to say contact between us and the neighbour is now at a minimum and even her herbal plants are growing.

We had a neighbour once (he has now moved on) that found a millimeter scratch on his car and because he parked on the space next to ours in the underground garage he accused us wrongfully of making the scratch. The scratch was easily removed with a cloth and we bought his parking place, which he was renting. It suited us as it was next to ours and my parking abilities are now risk free, as I have the choice of two places to park, although Mr. Swiss still says I park to much towards the right. I did not stand my “man”, I am just another opinion and we are still tied on this one.

Life is full of rules, but they are to break to your own interpretation. In a place where we once lived, I got a parking ticket for parking in front of my own garage. I went immediately to the police, found the policeman who wrongly gave me this ticket. Whilst he was explaining that I was in the wrong and this was not allowed according to local Kantonal Swiss law, he cancelled the parking ticket. I proved my point, so did he, but I was not really listening.

When I reflect on the situation, I am basically a law abiding citizen according to my own rules. Now and again I might drive a few kilometres to fast according to the speed limit (although driving 40 instead of 30 kmh is perhaps a bit over the limit). Mr. Swiss is now slowly giving up telling me to put my foot on the break. He just said he will not pay the fine if I am driving. The car is registered in his name, so we will cross that bridge when it comes.

So I have now completed another Daily Prompt according to my rules. I got a message from the WordPress people that they will be redesigning their Daily Post page and ask for a few suggestions from me. I just said that as far as I was concerned everying is OK and why mend it when it is not broken: another strike against authority. If I am not here tomorrow you know why.

Daily Prompt: Fight The Power

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13 thoughts on “Daily Prompt: Fight The Power”

Pingback: Indignation | A-to-Z Day 9 | melissuhhsmiles

I can sort of understand your point of view. But I think I would choose less potentially expensive issues to fight with power. Maybe I’m a sissy.

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Pingback: Daily Prompt: Fight the Power | tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice

You fight the rules like I fight them, by ignoring the ones that don’t make sense. 🙂 Fight on!

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angloswiss

10/04/2014 at 18:46

Exactly, what do I have to lose?

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So glad you offered the scribble to your felines to decipher. They treated it exactly right by ignoring it. So funny. When visiting my sister in California, I tried to get in the drivers side, I felt silly but it amused them so that’s O.K.

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angloswiss

11/04/2014 at 08:37

My felines ignore most things, or they might think about it and report back. As for London traffic that is something I will never get used to. I admire my friend the way she weaves in and out of busses and cruises around the triple roundabouts.

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Thanks for the pingback. I can see myself doing everything you’ve done. I am a fight the powers that be kinda gal and rules. I go on a logic principal, if it’s not logical you don’t have to waste your time worrying if I’m going to follow it.

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