Ignorance of the law is no excuse when you break the law, and the first time I paid the penalty for ignorance was when I first tried to get a driver’s licence.
It was back in the day when the police controlled that activity and you started out from the back of Central Station in Bridgetown, turned right on Tudor Street to Baxters Road, Barbarees Hill, Eagle Hall, Tudor Bridge and other roads until you reached the middle of Buckingham Hill in Bank Hall near Roy Byer.
There the policeman in the back seat would tell you to stop and pull up the handbrakes. Then he and the person taking you out would get out of the vehicle and leave you all alone to reverse up the hill and around the block.
That was where it ended for most people. Automatic vehicles were a rarity in those times and when you released that handbrake, you had to simultaneously find the right balance between gas and clutch to make sure the vehicle went backwards. If it lurched forward and cut out, that was the end of your test.
I didn’t have that problem because early o’clock I had learned how to balance gas and clutch like a professional, so that when I released the handbrake, the gearbox and engine were already in full reverse harmony and I was up the hill, around the block and back to the spot without a care.
Having conquered the mountain that Buckingham Hill became for most learners, it was back to Central but with the new challenges of doing so along busy city streets where you might find yourself being tested with a sudden “turn left”, only to find yourself going through a no-entry and about to head the wrong way on a one-way street. End of test until next time.
Not me. I was ready for any situation and was doing everything right. On High Street I even blew the horn to avoid an accident by letting some people know I was about to turn next to what used to be Roberts Stationery. They stopped in their tracks and I continued my incident- and accident-free driving test until I was back inside the yard at Central where I parked, pulled up the hand brake, turned off the engine and followed the policeman to his office, confident that when I came back out, it would be to drive with my own licence in hand.
But the man failed me. Why? It was a Tuesday, Parliament was in session and High Street was a silent zone. I, therefore, had broken the law when I blew the horn there and no amount of trying to convince him that I didn’t know or didn’t remember could excuse me from having to make another appointment for another test. So it was back to the Ls for this master driver.
All of that was intended to tell you that I ignorantly nearly got arrested and charged on election day for taking a photograph of my ballot paper. I didn’t know or didn’t remember that you couldn’t do that, but one of the elections bets I made had to do with the candidate I would vote for and I needed proof.
It was a good thing that I didn’t play ignorant and take the cellphone out of my pocket and take a pic showing my X next to the name that I had my money on. If I had, all like now I could be out on bail waiting to appear before a magistrate like the man who got arrested and charged for doing the same thing.
Anyway, congratulations to all the winners of seats and bets alike.
• Al Gilkes heads a public relations firm.
