I'm a cypher, wrapped in an enigma, smothered in secret sauce. Also, my name is Kev and I own this here website.
On the lazy scale, there’s people who ask other people to get them things instead of getting up and getting the things themselves, there’s people who go to the gym for the sole purpose of sitting in the steam room, there’s me in high school during summer break, and there’s these people.
I realize that some people have difficulty walking.
Maybe they’re injured? Maybe they have a bad hip? Maybe they have young children? Maybe they’re in high heels?
I remind myself of these possibilities whenever I go to a parking lot and see vehicles who sit and wait forever for a “close” parking space to open. Never mind the fact there are numerous free parking places about thirty yards away, these individuals are content to hover around the parking lot and wait for something closer.
I know some of them have legitimate reasons to need a closer parking space, but I also know that more than a few of them are waiting simply because they don’t want to walk.
These people bug me to no end. But sadly, earlier this week, I became one of these people.
Our town’s hospital is short on space. There isn’t enough parking to accommodate everyone, there aren’t enough hospital rooms to accommodate everyone, and there isn’t enough parking to accommodate everyone. It’s so bad, the hospital is buying up property all around it so that it can expand.
There are about 80 parking places in the front of the hospital. All other parking places are on the far side of it several football fields away. If you have to park there, you will have to walk for a long time…in the heat…and possibly in high heels.
With my mom back in town and ready to see my dad at the hospital, we drove to the front parking lot hoping to find a spot. No such luck. Did I say “oh well” and proceed to drive to the back of the hospital?
No.
I stayed right there and waited for a space to open.
For ten minutes.
Did a little bit of me die inside as I sat there and waited? Of course. Would I do it all over again if given the chance? Yes.
Don’t judge me, people. Don’t judge me unless you’ve walked a mile in my shoes.
Coincidentally, that’s about how long my mom and I would have had to walk if we parked in the back…
;-) 9.27.07 at 4:47 pm:
;-) 9.27.07 at 6:53 pm:
I’m too impatient. I’d rather part a long ways out and walk. Lyndsay is pretty much the same way. We look for good parking places but we don’t circle the parking lot more than once. If we don’t see anything “close” within that first swoop, we park in the first spot we see and walk.
;-) 9.27.07 at 7:13 pm:
I don’t get enough exercise during the workday, so I try to park further away and walk. Besides, then I don’t have to fight getting out of the space because too many of “those people” are waiting to jump into my spot.
;-) 9.28.07 at 1:09 am:
I find that the best songs often come on the radio right as I’ve reached my destination. Perhaps some of these folks are listening through to the end, and a close space is a bonus.
Yeah, I’m sure that’s so it.
When there is another potential driver in the car, and a crowded lot, I drop everyone at the front, park and hoof it up to the entrance. When it’s time to leave, I hand off the keys to a passenger to go get the car. Cuts the walking in half.
Oh, and I have teh OCDs. Probably I should have told you this in the beginning, would have been helpful.
;-) 9.28.07 at 9:20 am:
The people who don’t want to walk are usually the ones who desperately need to do so, if you know what I mean
;-) 9.28.07 at 10:09 am:
You could’ve just let your mom off at the door! Think if all the time you could have saved! Your poor mother, sick with worry about your father, and there you are sitting in the parking lot waiting for a close parking space!
;-) 9.29.07 at 6:04 pm:
I hate parking lots, or “car parks” as they’re called in Britain.
There is one car park in particular that really gets me – the cinema one where, there is NEVER a space near the front. EVER. So we go to the cinema, come out at midnight, and risk being mugged as we aimlessly try to find the car again, Jerry Seinfeld style!
And in the City of London, you have a 10/10 gurantee that if you park on the street you will get a massive parking ticket a la £150. This is because the parking police set up camp outside your car so even if you are sprinting down the road, one minute before time expires, they slap a juicy big one on the windshield.