(no subject)
Parking a car in this country of old, underground parking lots can be a challenge on the best of days, even in a nice compact smart car. It really isn’t as much about the size of the lot as it is about the god-awful huge pillars that appear to have been plunked down beside each lot almost so willy-nilly that you’d imagine the near-socialist rub that caresses the Canuck mindsets attempts to punish you for having bought -god forbid!- a car instead of using le bicycle or le-gs to get around.
I’ve lost minutes in a parking lot and hours of my life trying to navigate around these pillars in a sedan when parking and when attempting to escape these parking lots. M has a great spot downtown, in the only parking lot with piped in music and nice shiny floors. M also has to tithe a pretty portion of his salary to the parking gods to park there so it is not an option open to me.
Nevertheless, years on, I have learnt the art of parking in a Canadian underground parking lot downtown with minimal damage to myself or the car. That is, till I encountered the parking lot at work.
This is a parking lot with a design pilfered from a theme park ride. 3 floors of crazy pillars, tight corners, deceptive depths and a slope that is definitely at a 50-55 degree angle that simulates so perfectly your descent into a another layer of hell every time to drop a level. It is a parking lot INTENDED to discourage parking while offering a tantalizing 9 dollars a day for full day parking right under the building. With no other underground car parks around, this parking lot truly is Hobson. And there is no other choice.
Still, despite a heart stopping, bone chilling pillar scrape in my first month here, I had become adapt at rounding the corners and pulling my sedan into a corner, still my beating heart, pay that great rate and go to work.
However, having just upgraded to an SUV, my nightmare started all over again. My sedan was a pavam - it did what I asked it to, turned where I asked it turn, and backed into spots as nicely as it could carry out my instructions. The SUV though, has a mind, body and spatial definition of its own. It LUMBERS up a slope, AMBLES down a stretch and HEAVES through a turn.
On an open road.
In Hell’s Carpark, it didn’t stand a chance. I hit the back while backing it into a spot because I was distracted by my need to ensure it actually FIT into these spots. (Did they know of SUV sizes back when they drew the lots out in this old, old capark?). I noted two small marks on the passenger side one evening from the care next to it whose owner - awed by my behemoth - had carelessly (or carefully?) opened his door right into mine.
Was I then to not drive this car? Should I give up sirus radio and a warm ride every morning for a cold trek to the wet subway and then a cold walk to work? Is that the alternative.
Thankfully though, my problems are over as of this morning. As I moodily descended down to the third layer of Hell - a terrain largely uncolonised at the time I pull into work - and cautiously navigated myself into a spot, a kindly lady rolled down her window and said
You know, with a car like that, you might want to use the lot next to mine. It is extra big.
And it was. I have no idea how I had never seen it before. It was very big, very roomy and here was the kicker:
It had no confounded pillars next to it.
I pulled the craziest maneuvers over the next few minutes and eased myself into this spot. I relaxed for a second, and opened my door W-I-D-E and jumped out.
This truly is LUXURY.
Thank you so much for telling me about this! I gushed to the lady.
You’re welcome. But you’d better make sure you get into work this early every day. There is a Hummer which usually parks there.
Competition for a wide parking lot in a lot of small ones. That’s not going to be pleasant.
But that's a parking adventure for another day.
I’ve lost minutes in a parking lot and hours of my life trying to navigate around these pillars in a sedan when parking and when attempting to escape these parking lots. M has a great spot downtown, in the only parking lot with piped in music and nice shiny floors. M also has to tithe a pretty portion of his salary to the parking gods to park there so it is not an option open to me.
Nevertheless, years on, I have learnt the art of parking in a Canadian underground parking lot downtown with minimal damage to myself or the car. That is, till I encountered the parking lot at work.
This is a parking lot with a design pilfered from a theme park ride. 3 floors of crazy pillars, tight corners, deceptive depths and a slope that is definitely at a 50-55 degree angle that simulates so perfectly your descent into a another layer of hell every time to drop a level. It is a parking lot INTENDED to discourage parking while offering a tantalizing 9 dollars a day for full day parking right under the building. With no other underground car parks around, this parking lot truly is Hobson. And there is no other choice.
Still, despite a heart stopping, bone chilling pillar scrape in my first month here, I had become adapt at rounding the corners and pulling my sedan into a corner, still my beating heart, pay that great rate and go to work.
However, having just upgraded to an SUV, my nightmare started all over again. My sedan was a pavam - it did what I asked it to, turned where I asked it turn, and backed into spots as nicely as it could carry out my instructions. The SUV though, has a mind, body and spatial definition of its own. It LUMBERS up a slope, AMBLES down a stretch and HEAVES through a turn.
On an open road.
In Hell’s Carpark, it didn’t stand a chance. I hit the back while backing it into a spot because I was distracted by my need to ensure it actually FIT into these spots. (Did they know of SUV sizes back when they drew the lots out in this old, old capark?). I noted two small marks on the passenger side one evening from the care next to it whose owner - awed by my behemoth - had carelessly (or carefully?) opened his door right into mine.
Was I then to not drive this car? Should I give up sirus radio and a warm ride every morning for a cold trek to the wet subway and then a cold walk to work? Is that the alternative.
Thankfully though, my problems are over as of this morning. As I moodily descended down to the third layer of Hell - a terrain largely uncolonised at the time I pull into work - and cautiously navigated myself into a spot, a kindly lady rolled down her window and said
You know, with a car like that, you might want to use the lot next to mine. It is extra big.
And it was. I have no idea how I had never seen it before. It was very big, very roomy and here was the kicker:
It had no confounded pillars next to it.
I pulled the craziest maneuvers over the next few minutes and eased myself into this spot. I relaxed for a second, and opened my door W-I-D-E and jumped out.
This truly is LUXURY.
Thank you so much for telling me about this! I gushed to the lady.
You’re welcome. But you’d better make sure you get into work this early every day. There is a Hummer which usually parks there.
Competition for a wide parking lot in a lot of small ones. That’s not going to be pleasant.
But that's a parking adventure for another day.