The sullen, Catonian one?

Some Saturday morning pocket fluff for you.

Kevin McKidd got a lot of notice in the U.S. for his work in the HBO miniseries "Rome" as the fierce, tormented Lucius Vorenus. In Mike Leigh's "Topsy Turvy," a brilliant film about the creation of Gilbert & Sullivan's "Mikado, he plays tenor Durward Lelly. This scene always makes me chuckle. With Jim Broadbent as W.S. Gilbert, Jonathan Aris as put-upon costume designer Mr. Wilhelm, and Martin Savage as top hatted George Grosmith. Feel free to giggle at Wilhelm's claim that the costumes were researched and authentic in every detail, 'cause I've never seen a haori with smoking jacket lapels, or kimono with piping on 'em.

Topsy Turvy fans may enjoy browsing this site, which has photos from the original production.
http://math.boisestate.edu/GaS/mikado/html/index.html

I think someone just tried to scam me.

I just got home from Sacramento and found an envelope in my mailbox. The return address says
"TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT OFFICE
P.O. BOX 42034
PHOENIX, AZ 85080
OFFICIAL GOVERNMENT BUSINESS - RESPONSE REQUIRED."

Inside the envelope was what purports to be a traffic violation notice from the San Leandro Police Department with a photo of me at the wheel of my truck, purportedly running a red light on January 7 2010 at 12:03 PM.

The reason I say purportedly is that I got caught rolling through a red light about four years ago. I pleaded guilty, ate the very big fine, did my penance with an online driving safety course and  I am very careful about coming to a complete stop at all intersections. I also know how brightly those things strobe because I've seen them go off on other drivers at that particular intersection.

The "notice" says it's from the San Leandro Police Department, but it also says in large print on the back "DO NOT CALL THE COURT REGARDING THIS NOTICE". It instructs me (in English and Spanish) to fill out the back of the form indicating that I was either the driver or rat out whoever was/who now owns the vehicle if I sold it before the violation date. There is no court date, no return information on where to send a fine or how much it is if I wish to plead guilty, or when or where to appear in court should I wish to fight the ticket.  There is also no due date by which I am required to return the form. 

Well, looky, looky here!

http://www.highwayrobbery.net/redlightcamsticket.htm#Fake

When I checked the city's Police Dept. website, I found their business rules for conduct of their red light photo contract with Redflex,  which clearly state:
"1. The following information shall be included on all citations unless otherwise agreed to:
Registered owner and address
License plate of vehicle
Violation and description
Date, time and location of offense Date,
time and location of court appearance 
Physical description DOB or CDL
Issuing officer’s name and ID number"....

......8. The bail amount of 381.00 will be printed on the back of the citation."

Tthe citation number is not currently on file with the county traffic court, according to their website, which does, however, say that my citation will have the name and address of the applicable courthouse on it!!!! There was a disclaimer that it can take several weeks for a citation to be filed with the court. I have no qualms about checking back once a week for the next six weeks.

Other Saturday doings

I went up to Sacramento today for the annual meeting of the Free Artillerie Company, which I usually miss because it ends up conflicting with an SCA event. It was nice to see folks, I paid my dues and received a 17th c. acorn spoon reproduction that The Captain gives out to full members. Since my old spoon from Historic Enterprises appears to have been among the items that went missing when my truck was broken into, this was most fortuitous, and quite special as Dale made it himself.   I need to conflict check the event list with my SCA schedule to be sure, but I might actually be able to do more than one event with the Company this year. Fort MacArthur could be a blast, especially if we all pile into Dale's van....

I also got to handle an 18th c. Japanese matchlock from his collection of period firearms. Bwahahahah! (Damn that thing was heavy!)

We had lunch at the Olive Garden. It sure isn't Luigi's, but it wasn't awful either. It was fun chatting with my table mates. Glen expressed interest when I told him about the swing dancing on the Hornet. Must send him this!