Since some time, i've been driving a different car.
I had to change my parking permit to show the details of this car.
The parking permit is what allows me to park the car in the city where
i live.
This means i had to deal with administration.
I went to their office just to see that it had moved. They were kind
and put the new address out for me to find it.
So i went to the new address, and waited for 15 minutes to get my turn.
They then told me that i had to bring the papers of the car.
This was a friday, so i waited until after the weekend to go back.
Of course, during the weekend, i started getting parking tickets,
because my permit was not valid.
So i went back the next monday, directly to the correct address, taking
the car's papers with me.
Everything went well, they agreed to cancel the tickets i got during
the weekend, gave me the new permit, and everything was solved.
A few days later i started getting tickets again.
So i went back to the office the next monday and asked what was
happening.
They didn't see the problem. But the agents who check the parked cars
have some kind of portable computer with them, that contains the
details of all cars that have a valid permit. My car must have
disappeared from it, they will put it back in.
Problem solved. Tickets cancelled.
After a few days i got the ticket for the day i had been to the office.
I called them and they cancelled it.
But a few days later the tickets started to come back again.
I called them, but the person answering the phone said he was going to
tell the administration and they would call me back.
I waited a few days, but they never called me back.
So after a few days i called them again.
This time the person i got on the line knew what the problem was: My
address was set to Overleiestraat in Zwevegem.
Here i will have some explaining to do.
Although i live in Kortrijk, my official address is in Zwevegem, where
my parents live.
The street Overleiestraat is a street in Kortrijk, named after the
river Leie that runs through Kortrijk, but not through Zwevegem. The
street exists in Kortrijk but not in Zwevegem. The street where my
official address is has a name that's just a little bit similar.
It all happened when i went there to change the permit to the new
car:
Instead of just changing the car details, they had also changed the
address to a non-existing one.
So the lady on the phone asked me if i hadn't received a letter from
them.
A letter that they sent to a non-existent address, to tell me they had
the wrong address.
Which explains why i never heard back from them.
This was yesterday.
The lady asked me if i could go there today to prove that i live where
i live.
So i went there again this morning.
After proving that i do actually live there, they told me that they
will get back to me...