声音简介
I slept in a little that morning and rushed out of the house without checking properly if I had everything.That proved to be my undoing.
To cross the harbour bridge by car, you are required to pay a toll. The amount is $3, not a large sum, but enough to cause a headache if you are caught short.
These days, cash is not only means of payment because the authorities have introduced the e tag and electronic device that allows drivers to pay the toll automatically as they pass through a check point without stopping. On the day in question, however I had not yet signed up for e-tag and had to use the old fashioned method. Ordinary coins.
As I crossed the bridge and approached the toll booth at the far end.,I realized that I had left my wallet at home.
Alarmed but not panicked. I scrambled around for any loose change that might happen to be in the car. Perhaps I could cobble together $3 I thought to myself.
I reached into my coat pockets searched in the glove compartment and even felt around on the floor under the seats. All while driving in the heavy 3-lane peak h our traffic across the bridge.
My search yielded a number of random coins. I was fast approaching the toll gates.Cupping all the loose change in my left hand, I counted it.I'd been able to muster 2dollars 95 cents.
I knew there was no prospect of finding any more because my search had been exhaustive.But it will be all right, I told myself $2.95 is pretty close. My plan was to explain that I had done my best and to plead my situation as a special case. I would tell how I had forgot my wallet and tried hard to make amends.I convinced myself everything would be fine.
I reached the toll booth and told the attendant my story he listened attentively and I was sure he would accept my 2 dollars 95 cents. And let me through.
I will never forget what he said next. You can't nearly pay the toll either the toll is paid or it is not paid at all.
I pleaded with him, but couldn't you just let me through these once?
He repeated his answer.
I had no reply I SAT there as he took down my registration number and wrote out an invoice for a large fine. The statutory penalty levied on drivers who failed to pay the toll.
I learned that today that near enough is not good enough when it comes to pay the harbour bridge toll. I have since reflected on how something similar applies to life in general.
In life as on the harbor bridge, you can't nearly pay the toll. Either the toll is paid or it is not paid at all.
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