In Baarle, the fire depts have overcome this bureaucratic ineptitude, and
they even have developed a genderbender coupling so the two nation's fir
hoases can couple together if necessary, as they have different national
standards.
In terms of ambulances, a chap died in Castelre waiting for a Dutch
ambulance fomr Brada to arrive, and when the local Belgian commune of
hoogstraten told locals to call the Belgian ambulance next time, the mayor
of Baarle-Nassau got a little irked.
But somebody died!
BW
>From: Dallen Timothy <dtimothy@...>
>Reply-To: BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com
>To: "'BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com'" <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
>Subject: RE: [BoundaryPoint] borders in roads
>Date: Mon, 06 Aug 2001 08:50:50 -0700
>
>Hi Jesper,
>Yes, the border officials are still pretty strict with this regulation.
>Anyone who doesn't report and immigration/customs risks huge fines and/or
>imprisonment. There are (were in 1996 at least) video cameras along the
>street to monitor any illegal crossings.
>
>There is an interesting story (hopefully I haven't told it before) about
>the
>Haskell Library and the video cameras. Several years ago, the librarian,
>who lived in the Canadian side of town, took a small space heater into work
>with her because it was extra cold that day and she wanted to keep her feet
>warm. She parked her car in Canada, but the front door of the library is in
>the United States, so she had to walk through a small piece of the US to
>get
>to work. Within five minutes of arriving at work, there was a knock at the
>door (she hadn't unlocked it yet)--it was a US Customs official. He said
>"what did you carry into work with you". Of course she explained it was
>the
>small heater and that she was planning to take it back home with her. Her
>answer was satisfactory to the officer.
>
>The other story is that the small black line that's painted on the floor of
>the Haskell building is marked not for tourists, but for insurance and
>regulatory purposes. Many years ago a fire broke out in on the Canadian
>side of the library. The librarian unintentionally called the fire
>department of the US community, who were not permitted to put out the fire
>because it was on the other side of the room. So, more damage was done
>before the Quebec fire department could arrive to put out the fire. Now,
>with the black line in place, they'll know which side of the border to
>call.
>This is the story that is told of the Haskell building--not sure how much
>truth there is to it, but it sounds feasible given the other conditions
>I've
>seen along the border in that area.
>
>Cheers,
>Dallen
>
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