Free Parking

R.a.n.t. of week 02/01/15

I've had many problems when it comes to parking. Before the apartment I live at now, I had to park on the city street. This meant going to the Police Department and acquiring a parking permit. Just something else to add to the list of things you need to make sure you pay for when having a car (maintenance, gas, license place renewal, etc. etc.)

Fortunately, I don't have to worry about street parking now. Currently, my rent includes a free parking spot. And before you ask, yes, I do check under the free parking spot continually for money but I never find any. I guess that is not a 'house rule' my landlords play with. Anyone else play with that 'house rule' when playing Monopoly? Believe it or not, some people actually don't. But I digress. Another r.a.n.t. for another time perhaps? Certainly so!

Seriously though, I do have a free parking spot, so that's awesome. But there are other times when parking is not free or easy for me. I'm not really going to complain about paying to park, not so much anyway. I see many benefits of insuring a person is not going to be parked in the same place forever, just because it's free. For example, parking down-town of any major city. It's next to impossible finding a place to park when it's all paid parking. Can you imagine if it were free? Depending on how much it costs, I'd highly recommend parking structures. It's quick and easy, and who wants to spend an hour driving around looking for a parking spot? Who would do that though? {Sheepishly I raise my hand.} I did that this weekend when I visited Chicago. I can't even imagine trying to park in New York. In Chicago, forget parking on any side streets, they are all permit parking only. And, of course, tow away zones. So that's good, if you live there.

Trying to find a parking spot is bad enough when it's ideal driving conditions. Flash forward to the next day when Milwaukee is hit with a huge snow storm. Parking anywhere in the city is ridiculous. Streets aren't plowed so if you are parking on the street, you are parking in the street. And then risk getting your car hit buy other careless drivers, which is almost a certainty. Some people just shouldn't be driving. I know, that used to be me. I.... Wait, let me check something before I continue.... Okay, I was right, statue of limitations has expired, I can talk about this openly. Yes, I used to 'hit' cars all the time when I first learned to drive. Okay, 'tap' is more realistic. Bad depth perception and just learning to parallel park without hitting another car is next to impossible. Almost as impossible as a game of Monopoly starting without fights breaking out over who gets the car or the horse.