Finding Parking

Driving can be frustrating; idiot drivers, slow drivers, fast drivers, distracted drivers, the other drivers on the road can be very frustrating.  If everyone drove like I do, life would be easier.  I learned to drive in Michigan, drivers-education through the public schools complete with driving with an instructor on the roads and expressways.  Then I moved away, nearly 20 years later I drove back to Michigan for the first time.  I recall heading up a "freeway" driving the speed limit and being passed like I was standing still and thinking out loud, "where did these idiots learn how to drive" and it dawned on me, the same place I did.

As much fun as the roads can be, parking can also be a challenge.  Finding a space, and getting the car into it.  According to the standards used by parking designers, over the past 40 years the average car in the US has gotten smaller.  The condo is working with a designer on updating landscaping and parking areas, and one of the first suggestions was re-striping the parking areas, we could squeeze in an addition 50 parking spaces.  What they failed to look at is the average size of the car, driven by my geriatric neighbors.  SUVs are the domain of young and middle age drivers, but as we pass 60, we tend to buy bigger and bigger cars. Now the average Cadillac of today might be smaller then the average Cadillac of of 40 years ago, but the average Cadillac, or Buick, does not fit in a modern parking space.  Now I drive a small car, but if I am wedged in between two boats, I can barely open the doors wide enough to get in and out.

I have a temporary "handicap" parking placard while I rebuild the strength and stamina in my legs.  Ah!  I can find in close in spaces and the spaces are wider.  I can get the doors open and get in and out of the car with ease.  I hope that I continue to make progress and when the parking permit expires, I will move back to general parking, but I will miss the special parking.