Alternate-side parking is the bane of my existence. Do you know how expensive parking tickets are? Don’t even get me started on the cheddar it takes to get your car out of the impound lot. Not that I have to do that much, Rocco. Maybe you shouldn’t read this one. Ahem.
Alternate-side parking is always ruining my mornings. Why just this morning, Lucy was curled up in my pajama-wearing lap. I was chugging away on a writing project, sipping my honey-laden green tea, and rubbing Mildred’s belly with my barefoot. Heaven, right?
Then the alarm on my phone went off. “MOVE CAR, you wanker!” I dumped Lucy to the ground, knocking my tea over onto the legal pad filled with writing. With no towel or fabric in sight, I pulled the pages quickly across Mildred’s exposed belly, grateful I’d been working in ballpoint. Lucy howled when I stepped on her tail while sprinting the ten feet to the bedroom.
Three point five minutes later, I emerged from my building wearing my greatest fashion creation to date: pony-print clogs, navy blue running shorts with what I could only hope was a crusty chunk of dried sour cream on the left thigh, a polka-dotted button-down blouse, and Rocco’s leather RunDMC hat. Mothers, lock up your sons. Raw sex personified was roaming the unmonitored streets of Hoboken at five minutes til ten on this seemingly innocent morning.
I sprinted the three block to the car, wishing I’d taken an extra twenty seconds to put on socks. I rounded the corner at 10:03 to find no policeman in sight. Victory was mine! I danced a little celebratory jig on the corner. In the gated park to my right, a mother glared at me and pulled her child away from the fence, covering his innocent eyes. I retaliated with my best Beyonce impression.
Then I walked calmly to my car, opened the door, climbed in, turned her on and carefully backed out of my space.
Then I circled Hoboken for the next twenty minutes, searching for an empty spot.
There’s a reason people say, “More pizza places than parking spaces,” when I tell them where I live. Fuckers.
I did find one, eventually. It was a little tighter than I like (that’s what she said!), but I wasn’t looking to lose another thirty minutes to such an asinine errand. I find that with enough dedication, you can fit a car most anywhere – especially if the cars in front of you and behind you don’t have their parking breaks engaged. Just a few little love taps will rock those things enough to gain three or four inches on either side! That’s why they’re called bumpers, Interwebz. True story.
Sadly, it still took me ten minutes and thirteen tries to wedge Ginny in that wee parking space, but that’s still less than thirty. (Twenty less, even! Who says Thom’s the only one good at math?) And sure, one of her tires is on the sidewalk. Rocco would say two of her tires on on the sidewalk, but he’d be wrong. Technically a planter doesn’t count as sidewalk. Look it up.
The thing is, now that I’ve bothered getting dressed once today, I’m not really motivated to change. Do you think I can wear this to the MoMA? Just pretend I’m my own art installation?
Yeah, me too.
“How long can you park on the street before you have to move so as not to get a ticket?” she asked innocently, being from the Land of Wide Open Spaces and Ample Parking.
Ok, here’s the thing. Every street has a different day and time when you can’t park there. So in theory, if you timed things perfectly you’d only have to move your car once a week. HOWEVER, timing never works out that way. If I go grocery shopping and get home late Monday evening, it goes without saying that the only spot I’ll be able to find is a Tuesday 9am spot. So then I’ll get up, skip writing, and go move the car at 8:57am Tuesday morning. But everyone else in a Tuesday 9am spot is doing the exact same thing. So then the only spot I’ll be able to find is a Tuesday 1pm spot. Then I’ll have to come back downstairs at 1:54 to move the car again. But all the Tuesday 9am spots will be full and all I’ll be able to find is a Wednesday 9am spot. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Aren’t you glad you asked?
I’ve had more parking tickets than hangovers. Well maybe not that many, but probably close. It’s impossible to avoid when you live in a huge city. Talking about it makes me want a cocktail.
Me too. And a hayride. Because then someone else has to park the mother.
I say wear it to Moma with some ginormous sunglasses and rock it like you’re one of the artists! I know you can BS your way to making it believable!
And I don’t envy you the musical parking spaces you have to deal with. We don’t have to deal with it much here, thank God!
If I say “ironical” enough, no one will even notice.
Isn’t there someone you can hire to do this parking nonsense for you? Outsourcing is my answer for just about everything. Payment can be creative….
I could pay to put it in a parking deck, but four tickets a month is still cheaper than that monthly fee. I’m nothing if not a cheap bitch.
MoMa? That ensemble is suitable for a Girl’s Night Out! So long as you are going out with a bunch of hobos?
And I belly laughed at the sour cream part. Nice touch. 🙂
We’ll pretend I just made that part of for effect. Good call.
You can’t be an art installation without socks. You can be if you put them on your ears.
Your wisdom, yet again, overwhelms me. Teach me, master.
I’ve never owned a car that wasn’t booted and towed at least one during our vehicle/driver relationship. We don’t do alternate side of the street parking here like up in NY/NJ but any infraction will empty your pockets and eventually have you running down the street in a get up very much like the one you wore today while cursing at the guy hauling your ride.
Holy run on sentence Batman. Don’t read what I say anymore, it will taint your good writing. Not *that* kind of taint. Taint like soil or ruin. Oh nevermind.
Sometimes even I don’t have a response…
My advice – whatever you do , do NOT test the sour cream theory with your tongue. You could be in for a world of hurt.
As for the art installation – you may not get the Tate Modern to feature you, but you could probably get your own signing career, Lady Gaga-stylee.
Honestly, does the woman COMPREHEND the purpose of a mirror??
– B x
Hand mirrors are for checking your..erm…meat purse, right?
So the Interwebz wants to know: is that or is that not dried up sour cream? And what did you put on the card next to you when you’re at MOMA?
I didn’t lick it to check. And that’s probably what should go on the card: Do Not Lick.