I forgot until just now that I was pulled over by the cops (well, a cop) last night. I was on the way home from M's house, which is out in rural Hadley, and I was speeding, because yet again I was looking forward to about 6 hours of sleep, tops. The roads were clear, except I kept driving through these tiny snow squalls that were literally about ten feet in diameter - I'd see a white patch on the road and when I'd drive over it, it would be wildly snowing, but just until I emerged. Really, really strange, but it matched well with the odd orange glow in the sky (from UMass? possibly). Did I mention it was 1 a.m.?

Anyway, I was speeding down Rt. 9, and saw a cop car lurking at the Place of Many Lights (that big gas station next to the car wash), so I hit the brakes, because I'm subtle that way. And I passed him and didn't see him throw on the flashy lights, and so I figured I was in the clear. And then a car came up behind me, which suddenly sprouted some flashy lights. Dammit. I pulled over near the Aqua Vitae and awaited my doom. The cop was a young-ish fellow, and seemed friendly. Luckily I didn't say what I was thinking of saying ("I'm usually on this road when the traffic's so bad we're barely moving, so I have no idea what the speed limit is here!" - all true), because the cop said he pulled me over for a broken tail light. He took my registration and license back to his car to make sure I wasn't a wanted man, and a few minutes later he gave me a written warning and a pat on the ass and a "scoot!" and I was on my way. Whew! I have not had much luck with cops in the past five years or so, so this encounter was quite a relief.