Gossip

A Lesson in Sydney Cops

Word around the campfire is that the Sydney police are starting to crack under the pressure of so many extra people.... you be the judge.

So we're out having a good time and the night's getting late. We head back to Getter's place in Circular Quay and someone puts on some music. It's not loud. When I say that the music isn't loud, I don't mean that in an obnoxious teenager kind of way, it legitimately was not loud.

There was a knock on the door and a bit to our surprise, it was the local Sydney police - guys who have unbelievably more important things to worry about (during the Olympics) than us. Frank waved them in and greeted him like a gracious host, "Hey guys! What can I do for you?"

They explained that Frank's whiney neighbor had complained about some noise. Frank opened his arms and asked the cops to find a problem with what we were doing at that minute (which hadn't changed from what we had been doing twenty minutes prior). The cops agreed that it didn't look so bad, but got extremely stern and said that we'd be risking a penalty of a fine if we didn't keep it up. Before we could ask, they said that the penalty would be a max of $300.

Without missing a beat, all three of the Americans in the room looked at eachother and said, "US or Australian?"

It was Australian.

Right now, the exchange rate hit an all time high for the US dollar - only $0.53 US per Aussie, everything is half price!

The third American, a woman with whom Frank works didn't miss a beat at that point, "well, can we pay you double now so you won't have to come back later tonight?"

The cops didn't laugh. Apparently, Sydney police learned their senses of humor from the guy who gave me the jay-walking ticket in Santa Monica.