I Owe France an Apology

AT LEAST I think I do.

Last summer I received two speeding tickets in Strasburg while we were living there for the summer. Because the notices were sent to our permanent address in the South of France, we didn't get the notices until we returned to our home in mid-September -- when they were already way overdue. Without going into the details, we went back and forth with this -- trying to explain the situation in writing -- until I finally paid two 320 Euro tickets. Yes, TWO!

The response we kept getting was that we had to pay the tickets before our case would be heard. Yeah right, we thought. We'll pay the 600+ Euro fine and then the wonderful French government will choose to decline our appeal. We were not confident that we would ever see any of that money again. Our argument was this: we didn't get the tickets until they were already overdue because of our current living situation, blah blah blah.

Well, this morning I was looking at our bank statements online when I noticed an odd deposit for 475 Euros. A few quick questions to some friends about the 'tagline' on the deposits led to the one conclusion I wasn't expecting: our appeal has been approved and we have received a refund.

I certainly didn't expect that -- which means I owe France an apology. I'm sorry!