Buoys, Fees, Drivers License & Cat

This morning arrived at the Gandy boat ramp to meet a friend on a mission to chase buoys in Tampa Bay. I was there early only to find that our public servants have erected a pay station requiring any boater using the ramps to pay a $4.67 + .33 tax. This is just a continuing money grab from the tax payer and if we do not stand up and say enough they will continue attach fees to every move you make. The only encouraging thing is that in a few years they will be so bankrupt despite their money grab they will not have the funds to enforce their own ridiculous statues.

 

Here is the message you will hear if you call the number on the sign. It turns out that all regional parks now have fees and you can actually spend a boat load of money to purchase annual passes for both the parks and the boat launches that are tax payer funded to begin with. These are sad times in this country.

Well, after partially recovering from the stress and anger of discovering this new restriction to my personal freedom my friends arrive and we meet the boat at the dock.

It did not take us long to locate some fine buoys and we were able to float right up to them. They are some of the slowest moving things.

My next adventure for the day was to renew my drivers license. I look up the list of offices being careful to avoid the official local government locations with their dismal service and gloomy interiors and find a AAA office about 40 minutes north. I set off with dread and arrive at a very nice building with a bright comfortable interior. I sign in and in 30 minutes I am walking out the door with my new license!

If you are going to be ripped off you might as well be ripped off with a smile. Of course I was late to renew so I had to pay an extra $15 above the already ridiculous $48 fee. The bureaucracy must be fed.

I ask the kind lady receiving my money how long they have had the drivers license service at this AAA office to which she responds about a month. She then goes on to say that she anticipates it will be shut down after the next meeting of the legislature because there is no more money to pay her. She believes after over 20 years at the job she will have to look for a new one. Everything government related has never cost more and yet they are still collapsing and complain they have no money.

I then returned home to find the scene in the images below.

Ya’ll have a great day ya hear.