The Nightmare Of Parking

[VBdenny]

Parking

For those chosen few who love vehicles, there are few things that rival the anxiety involved with parking in public car parks. Leading that list would of course be the dreaded valet. Bear in mind that I will valet park a rental unit at the drop of a hat, but one of my cars? Avoided like Ebola by me with MY cars.

Parking involves leaving your car unattended in a place where any moron and their offspring can park so close that just seeing it can wake you at night. I will be up front and say I am a parking fanatic. Perhaps one of the reasons I'm not oversized is that I park wayyyyyyy out, on an end if possible, away from trees (birds), away from obvious strike zones and high traffic areas. Even with the multiple previous door dings on the Silverado, I still park way out.

Of course there are situations (many of which my wife makes me attend), where parking is very limited. Anxiety sets in rapidly, you know heart rate up, neck craned looking for a spot. Without a doubt you'll see some dude has his Mercedes Benz coupe backed in snugly in a nice corner spot. When you find a nice spot between two massive SUV,s, you really don't enjoy whatever the event is because you are imagining some inconsiderate buster.. Banging the door of their nasty, dirty pickup into your highly waxed door.

Not that I wish for anyone to be handicapped, but you can not argue that the chances of door dings on the Cadillacs tucked in to the HP spaces are minimal. I made friends with handicapped people so we can take their car to events. My car loves that kind of treatment.

In spite of all of my precautions, I have accumulated two on my Nissan Frontier. Some idiot in Kitty Hawk backed into it And dented the bumper and under the tail light then booked of course. My LS was dented by a handicapped moron who in spite of the extra space managed to park so close that when they wailed open their door, it put a huge double dent in my back door. After they did it, they moved to a different space thinking I wouldn't know it was them but I was the checkout line at the grocery store and saw it from the window. They looked poor and you can't get blood out of a rock so now have a long long scratch the entire side of their crappy handicapped minivan. Don't know how it happened but as the say. IT HAPPENS.

Parallel parking certainly grants you a reprieve from door dings but leaves you vulnerable to license plate bolt gouges. Got a few of them but surprising to say, none on the Chevy truck. Big old hitch might have something to do with that.

A wonderful way to spend New Years Eve. Time to clock watch, enjoy

Denny

[pj8708]

Ha Ha!! LOL

My postulate is that the more expensive your car is, the more likely it will become a a punching bag for all drivers that have those idiot chrome women on their mud flaps.

[VBdenny]

Exactly. One of the main reasons I keep a "go to the store" vehicle.

[LEX-SV]

Exactly why I have 1 garage queen and 2 levels of dd's. The jungle out there is nothing new, I have realistic and low expectations of most American motorists.

[13IS250C]

One thing you forgot Denny. Make sure you are parked up hill so no buggys can roll your way.

Thank God, we always take hubby's truck when we travel or go to events. Lexie can stay cozy in her garage. Funny, he parks anywhere and never gets dings. I guess those tall flat doors are not good targets.

My Z28 was my DD while my kids were young and in day care. I wasn't about to park in the lot of the center with all the mini van moms and strollers, car seats and kids with back packs so I parked at the place next door which was a biblical research place. The lot was always empty. The last day I took my daughter there, I bought a big box of candy and walked into that place and dropped it on the counter. The lady asked me what it was for. I said, for 4 years I have used your parking lot and nobody ever complained. She said that they enjoyed looking at my car and they didn't blame me at all.

I critique a parking lot from the second I enter it. It's a curse.

[VBdenny]

Whenever we go to any parking lot, we nearly always take the silverado. Luckily, my wife doesn't think the IS is that comfortable being so low and all. Okay with me. I even drive my Nissan Frontier once in awhile to keep the 8 year old battery charged.

Some parking lots are okay with wider spaces and plenty of way out end places. Parked like that at an RX the other day and some idiot parked about one foot from me. I checked carefully but still had to inch the car out. Hmmm, do you think the centimeter into a parking spot in Europe?

[13IS250C]

Eons ago, I had a 70 1/2 Camaro. I worked in a high rise building and parked in a pay lot about a block away. I always parked in an end spot that had a little painted triangle next to it. One day I came out and some a-hole had parked in the triangle and was about 2 inches from my car. I actually had to enter through the passenger door he was so close. Well, there was a cop on the corner holding a radar gun. I went to him and asked if he could give the guy a ticket. He said no, because it was on private property. I looked at the car again and said, he is parked on the sidewalk. His tire was on the sidewalk. The cop pulled out his ticket book and said, he sure is an started writing a ticket. As I walked closer to the car, I looked and his inspection sticker was expired. I was kind enough to point that out to the policeman too. Teeheehee......don't mess with a woman and her beloved Camaro.

[LEX-SV]

I'm also a bit of a "parking fanatic".

[Exhaustgases]

What you have to love is the stores that have a 7 foot wide parking space for a 6.5 foot wide car.

If parking spaces were designed right, and all parking areas had cameras, then people that spend thousands for a car wouldn't have

to worry about it being ruined.

[LEX-SV]

I was at Target store a couple weeks ago and walked by a bunch of "Compact" parking spots fairly close to entrance. I was surprised at the number of good sized SUVs parked in those spots. Maybe they should mark those spots for "Lazy sloths" or something...

[13IS250C]

Never understood that. I park way out.

[VBdenny]

Luckily for those of us that park out, lazy people cram anything in as close as possible. They are usually easy to pick out in the store.

[LEX-SV]

First stop for them is at the fast food counter, to order something greasy and fried.

[VBdenny]

Yup. Seeing people eating in grocery stores is not something I enjoy seeing. I'll quit with that before I say something I regret

[lenore]

What you guys need is a bumper car....Than bump away.

[LEX-SV]

I see mini vans that look like bumper cars, based on wide variety of damaged areas at all 4 corners. Suspect driving skills probably play a part...

[13IS250C]

Most people just don't give a darn.

Going with what y'all said about the food purchases of these bozos, if you don't care about your car you probably don't care about your body.

I enjoy the walk. God blessed me with a healthy body. I want to keep it that way. I will also walk a long distance to put my buggy in the cart rack.

[VBdenny]

Standing and walking are an excellent means to stay fit. I actually watch a lot of television standing. Everything about ADHD is not bad and those who have it do not get a fair rap.

As Harvey Danger said

"If you're bored

Then you're boring

[13IS250C]

I have a TV mounted on the wall in front of my treadmill. I can get interested in a program and the next thing I know I have walked for an hour. Only bad thing is you have to turn the TV so loud to hear it over the treadmill. I need to get my hubby to pull it off the wall and see if there is a headphone jack on the back.

I refuse to get old like other people my age. All kinds of diseases and joint replacements. Not my thing.

[VBdenny]

Must agree. No treadmill but it's usually not too bad outside in VB. Of course here in Boston area, quite cold for walking. I'm heading back to VB tomorrow. I would have to say that I watch most of my TV in my garage. That big screen in the alar is what my wife watches when she is there.

[13IS250C]

My neighborhood is too boring to walk in. Only one block and there are still houses under construction. When it gets a little nicer, I'm going to start walking on our greenway. I gotta get me a holder for my phone so I can listen to my tunes. The bad thing about that is that then I want to start dancing and singing. Teeheehee.