I've just been fined $100 by two Revenue Protection Officers of the State Transit Authority for travelling on a bus with an invalid ticket. I don't know any further details. The officer confiscated the ticket and refused to tell me how it was invalid. His reply to my repeated requests for details were "You should know what date it expired" and "You should have a better idea of what's on your belongings."

As we were getting off the bus at my stop, the wiry-looking smug one was lecturing me on the correct procedure for paying fares. Because of the noise I couldn't hear and asked him again once we were on the footpath what he was saying. His reply was "You know what I was talking about."

What followed was the first time in my life that I have screamed at a man in uniform. And actually it was the first time in years that I have lost my cool in public. I don't think they liked being told that they were denying me some basic principles of natural justice. Not that I was quite so literate at the time, however I did speak to them in civil language, just that it was at the top of my voice with steam surging figuratively out of my ears.

Now I'm so damn forgetful these days that it is entirely possible that my ticket had expired, in which case I'm prepared to cop the fine. But I simply do not know because that bastard wouldn't tell me.

Anyway, my complaint to the State Transit Authority is on its way.