Thank you, DMV--and I am not making this up

What a wonderfull surprise. The folks at Merced DMV always seem to be super friendly, and willing to do whatever they can to help the public...

Last time I had contact with a vehicle license department was in my home country, Britain. A police speed trap photographed me hurtling through a Bedfordshire village at 42mph one Sunday. Via cyberspace, the police computer sent the photographed license number to the vehicle license department in Swansea, whose own computer identified the car as the property of a London hire company. That hire company's computer supplied my name and address to the vehicle license department computer, which informed the Bedfordshire police computer, which mailed me a charge sheet listing my options. I paid the fine by check, which passed through automated bank clearance. I received a computerised receipt.

None of this may seem particularly surprising to anybody reading this. But, to me, it was a highly disturbing example of the automated society, the world of Big Brother at work. I had been caught, nailed, charged and punished - and not a single human being on the entire globe knew a damn thing about it, except me. The whole thing done by technology, and not a single human being in the chain.

So now, how refreshing it is to read that there's someone called Sarah in Merced, who helps a man face-to-face on a Friday. My old faith in the personal touch is almost restored. Think I'd like to visit Merced one day.

I'll come by bus.

BB