Parking

Vancouver has what I refer to as parking gestapo. They must be paid on commission and love special events and holidays or what appear to be holidays. They have no mercy and prey on visitors to the city who have not witnessed their efficiency in handing out tickets. Parking and stopping has me baffled. Are you parked when you are still in your car? Can you get a ticket if you are stopped in a no parking zone and are still in the vehicle? Are you parked when you place your vehicle in park? Are you stopped in a no stopping zone if your vehicle is still in drive and you are stopped. I apparently committed this violation and was dissed by the parking officer for stopping in a no stopping zone. I stopped the car in front of me was stopped. I suppose I could have hit the car and pushed it out of the way. Then again, what happens as you proceed down the street and traffic is stop and go. Are you then committing a violation? Apparently you are if you let someone out of the vehicle when traffic forces you to stop.

The parking gestapo have the ultimate weapon, the ticket, which if not paid will eventually bite you in the ass when it comes time to renew your ownership. You can always go to court and plead your case but that involves your time and gets the parking gestapo off the street into some place warm, and they probably get court costs for attending.

And buses, with the aggressive drivers honking away and yelling at you if you do not yield immediately when they throw on their turn signal to switch into your lane. I can understand yielding if you are behind the bus looking at the stupid little yield sign right at your eye level, but I do not see why I have to throw the brakes on if I am at the bus's mid point and he/she starts infringing on my lane.

Vancouver pedestrians seem to have a hate on for drivers. There has to be a little give and take between drivers and pedestrians and if everyone respects 'walk'/ 'don't walk' signs all is good. Just don't try to turn into the lane to my parking garage when the subway train has just let out a hundred pedestrians who are scurrying home to their favorite libation.

And parking garages ... I park on P5 and round and round I go. To make matters worse, parking garages in Vancouver spray the concrete floors with a substance that makes your tires squeal like banshees if you go into a turn at over 5 kph. I have learned to keep the windows closed and the tunes up :-) At lest the pedestrians can hear me coming.

Going around and around reminds me of the Triumph TR4A that I owned while I was attending Carleton University. The starter went on the vehicle (flashy red sports car) and of course, being a poor student, I did not have the funds to replace it. I always had to make sure I parked on a hill so I could push start the car, by pushing it, jumping in it, and then popping the clutch. Carleton had a 10 floor parking garage and each day I would arrive and travel to the tenth floor to park. Upon finishing my classes, I had ample time to bump start my car by pushing it down the spiral ramp that I conveniently parked beside upon my arrival.  Round and round I went for 4 months until I saved the funds up for a rebuilt starter.

I have seen sun over the last 3 days and the weekend promises more sun and a high of 10 degrees. It should be a great weekend and I wish the same for you, wherever you are. I just may go for a drive in the country, where there are no pedestrians and no parking gestapo to contend with ... just the open road and great vistas ... wish I had my motorcycle with me :-)

Take care, TTYL,

Jim