Going rogue
Braving covid again, I met up with the rest of the local fam down at the Griz. They went on to a concert at The Ark. I came home. I almost always fade in the mid-to-late afternoon and I did so today. I perked up for dinner (salmon BLT, half of which is now in the landfill refrigimatator) but I knew I wouldn’t last through a concert. I am not a big fan of concerts anyway. I have always been much happier being involved in the works of staged performances than watching them. A player when I was an active musician. A jill-of-all-trades as a play production manager. I would sneak into the back of the auditorium to watch my kids on stage then get moving again. On to whatever I needed to attend to next.
I haven’t driven *to* downtown a whole lot since before covid, except the farmers market. There are weird bike lanes where there didn’t used to be and many of the long-time one-way streets are now two-way. It’s okay. I managed. They’ve also changed the parking lots and the one by the Griz is now plastic card only. Which I am ecstatic about. But. For whatever reason, if I can’t just tap my card, I am forever putting my card in backwards or sometimes upside down. This is not really an issue at Meijer but I think they need to install some sort of little LED light above the credit card slot because leaving in the dark, for the life of me, I could not see the graphic that showed which way to put the card in. And couldn’t remember how I did it when I entered the parking lot. (You put your card in when you enter and then the same card upon exit.)
But I did it. The GG had walked down and he actually offered to MEET me outside the restaurant to “help” me park. I actually thought about that for a split second and then decided to hell with it. I can handle this. And I did. And then ALMOST turned into the goddamn bike lane that didn’t used to be there…
I do think about all the years I used to shop downtown ALL THE TIME. I had my fave parking lots. The lot by the Griz. The Library Lot. Palio’s lot. Sometimes Kline’s. I knew the funky pattern of one-way streets like the back of my hand. I will learn this new stuff too. I am a fan of parking apps, etc. Except when they don’t work and they sometimes don’t and when they don’t I don’t have quarters hanging around in my console any more. Assuming the parking meters even take quarters these days.
Enough gibberish. G’night!
February 20th, 2024 at 10:18 pm
Those fancy parking apps stress me out! They mostly work but when they don’t, it can be a nightmare. I’m still getting a handle on the tapping. I frequently do it in the wrong place!