This morning I was really struggling to walk, only I needed to go to the shops to buy things like food. Most days I struggle a bit but today was especially bad. A short trip to the shops was going to be the one thing I could do for the day.
So I set off.
An hour later I returned. The thing is I live on a tight little street. Parking is at a premium. I also live near some local shops, which have their own pay and display car park (it's, like, 20p a week to park in there). But people insist on using my tight little street as a personal car park. It can be vexacious to have to park 100 yards away from my door, but like everyone else I put up with it.
But today I was going to have difficulty walking the few yards from the car to the house, never mind the fact that I had shopping to expedite from the car-boot to the kitchen cupboards.
The photo above shows what I discovered when I arrived back. In the gap I'd left an hour before was this VW Polo, parked with 3/4 of a car length in front and 3/4 of a car length behind*. I've come across these people before (and ranted about it). They reverse back and forth in order to EXACTLY centre their vehicle in whatever space there is. The idea is to have your own car as far away from any other car as possible. In fact I suspect the reason that drivers like this person use my street rather than a carpark is that a carpark is a place populated by cars.
Looking across the street the picture was similar (although it started to rain and I went inside before I could photograph it). Along a kerb that could easily housed four vehicles, there were two. Parked neatly with veldt-like expanses of ground both front and behind.
There was nothing I could do. I sat and waited until someone came back from the shops, got in their car and drove away. Half an hour of my life I will never get back.
*the photo montage makes it look like the car was parked on the apex of a corner when in fact the street is perfectly straight.
So I set off.
An hour later I returned. The thing is I live on a tight little street. Parking is at a premium. I also live near some local shops, which have their own pay and display car park (it's, like, 20p a week to park in there). But people insist on using my tight little street as a personal car park. It can be vexacious to have to park 100 yards away from my door, but like everyone else I put up with it.
But today I was going to have difficulty walking the few yards from the car to the house, never mind the fact that I had shopping to expedite from the car-boot to the kitchen cupboards.
The photo above shows what I discovered when I arrived back. In the gap I'd left an hour before was this VW Polo, parked with 3/4 of a car length in front and 3/4 of a car length behind*. I've come across these people before (and ranted about it). They reverse back and forth in order to EXACTLY centre their vehicle in whatever space there is. The idea is to have your own car as far away from any other car as possible. In fact I suspect the reason that drivers like this person use my street rather than a carpark is that a carpark is a place populated by cars.
Looking across the street the picture was similar (although it started to rain and I went inside before I could photograph it). Along a kerb that could easily housed four vehicles, there were two. Parked neatly with veldt-like expanses of ground both front and behind.
There was nothing I could do. I sat and waited until someone came back from the shops, got in their car and drove away. Half an hour of my life I will never get back.
*the photo montage makes it look like the car was parked on the apex of a corner when in fact the street is perfectly straight.
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