September 23, 2008
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[irritably] If you don’t know how to drive, then DON’T.
And park. If you can’t park properly, don’t park at all. In fact, just stay home and call a cab.
Mercy Maud, I was out and about for maybe an hour and a half, tops, and besides getting stuck behind cars creeping along as if they were driving in a blinding snowstorm (instead of sunny and 90 degrees), I went to the Ridglea branch library, which has Very Limited Parking. Aha! There was a spot up to the right, or so I thought.
Grrrrr:
Yup. A big ol’ SUV essentially hogging two parking spaces because of being over the line. I left and went to the bank – only a block or so away – to deposit a check then returned. SUV still there, with the spot next to it still empty, since no one could fit into it (well, I guess a motorcycle could). There was a space between a couple of pickup trucks on the east side (parallel parking required; no marked spaces) so I snagged that, while behind me came a small car who clearly headed for that spot only to give up and drive to a space on the far west side of the building. As I was entering the library I could see the small car’s occupants indignantly glowering at the SUV as they passed by.
It was still there when I left. You know, finding a parking place at that particular library has become a problem these days and I know why: virtually every one of the computers was taken up. Used to be one mostly went to the library, searched for books, checked out, and departed. Nowadays people go in, sign on to a computer, and sit like they’re glued. Because they just stay, their parking spots don’t get vacated. I wish the city would purchase the building to the north and knock it down to expand the parking lot. It’s woefully inadequate now.
However, seeing as how the library’s hours are going to be shortened beginning September 28, that doesn’t seem likely.
Then as I was pulling off Montgomery darned if a red pickup truck didn’t suddenly back out of a business’s lot, aiming straight for me. Fortunately there wasn’t anyone coming toward me else I’d have had to decide whether to veer left and hit the oncoming car, or maintain course and get whacked by the truck. My vehicle is a Venture, for pity’s sake. It’s not a tiny little compact. How on earth did that guy not SEE me? He just didn’t pay any attention at all, obviously.
Scares me to death to think of Dmitry out there one of these days, what with all the crummy drivers.
Comments (8)
I totally understand, but I think I’ll have to live there a few years before I can be upset with you. It’s much better than Japan. There is parking at the library. Praise GOd! You can drive there, wait for a spot, get out, and head on in. Once you get in, everyone speaks englisha dn can help you. You can pretty much get any book you want.
When the car backed out towards you, at least you had another lane to veer into.
Just look at the bright side. You are not in Japan. THere is no parking (and if you do find it, it’s very expensive -$3-$6 for 30 minutes). People just park on the side of the road to run in somewhere (most roads around here are only 1 lane, so that makes it tricky to get around). People here like to cut you off and then wave with a little nod as if you were nice enough to let them in (now that I will miss – at least they acknowledge me).
OK, sorry to crash in on your venting. I just had to join.
Oh, and parking spaces are tiny here, and we have to back into most of them. THat’s tough with a big ol van.
Sometimes that happens because the next guy over parked badly, and you’re forced to park badly because the space is squeezed to one side.
And sometimes, people are just dum. :not-talking:
Oh, Beth, cutting you off and then waving to pretend that they’re thanking you (for nothing) is not strictly a Japanese behavior. It happens to me all the time. Maybe that little form of backhanded discourtesy just hasn’t made it to Texas yet. Y’all down there do seem to be behind those of us farther north in the rudeness department. :hmmmmm:
You got me there, Beth! I do indeed recall the driving conditions in Japan, and they’re frightful. :rollingeyes:
Jane, you’d be right about the “having to park like that because of previous cars’ positions” except the SUV was so askew. Were it reasonably aligned with the space’s stripes, I might be willing – albeit grudgingly – to allow the possibility that the SUV had parked in an equidistant fashion between the cars on either side.
But it looks to me as if both those places were empty when it arrived, and it just pulled in carelessly.
Well, of course it’s not worth arguing about, but just recently I was forced to park askew because the guy next to me parked askew. I suppose I could as well have parked straight but farther over, but I must have been in a hurry (I’m thinking it through far more NOW than I did at the time, don’t you know), so I squeezed in as far over as I could, which resulted in being askew. So I can see how it happens. Still, you’re probably right that it was just lousy parking on the SUV’s part. Odds are greater that one person parked stupid than that you came upon the victim of another stupid parker.
In any case, even if the SUV’s driver had been forced to park askew, he or she should have peeked outside occasionally (one can easily observe the space from the glass doors…it’s a small branch library) to see when it was possible to straighten up.
Mind, I know what you mean about other cars dictating how we park. I won’t park askew, though I have been known to park on the line. Hate doing it, for invariably the cars that created the situation pull out before I do, leaving me looking like a selfish jerk who doesn’t care how she parks. :hammer:
I usually just park farther away and walk.
h-no:
Sometimes people – especially people in expensive new cars – will park that way so their doors don’t get dinged by people entering or exiting cars parked right alongside. Selfish, yes, but we’ve got enough dings on our doors to understand the concept. But since the driver of this car didn’t center it between two spaces, I’m inclined to believe it was just sloppy parking.