I will never be a social butterfly but I am starting to get restless and wanting to get back to a version of my old social life, minimal as it was. So Lizard Breath and npJane and I met up downtown at the Griz for an early-ish lunch today and boy oh boy did I need that.

We met at noon or thereabouts and since the Griz doesn’t do a brunch, that meant it was practically empty when we got there. I’m still not ready for crowds although I have tolerated a couple of crowded restaurants lately and managed okay. But the Griz has nice big booths that make you feel like you have some privacy.

I got STUCK in the parking lot! I have been parking in that parking lot FOREVER. It has always been FREE on Sunday. Most downtown parking is free on Sunday. At some point a new owner took that lot over and it is no longer free on Sunday. When I got down there I read the signs and got in the lane where you stick your credit card in the reader. Then I noticed that the EXIT lane adjacent to me was not barricaded and people were just driving right on in. Okay. Hmmm, maybe it IS free on Sunday? So I backed up and followed the others in through the exit.

When I got back to Cygnus X-1, that lane was blocked and I had to use an actual exit, which would want my credit card, which I KNEW the musheen wouldn’t find because I hadn’t inserted my card on the way in. I actually knew about this and have done it successfully before but I was magical thinking that parking was free on Sunday. Fortunately, there was a big red HELP button and a woman came on a little screen and kindly instructed me to put my card back in and I did and I was outta there.

Hmmm? Did I pay for 24 hours? No. It was $6, which I can’t believe was 24 hours. Also the woman asked me when I had arrived so pretty sure I was just charged for the two hours I was there. People complain all the time about how much parking costs. If I had to park downtown every day, I’d probably be in that boat. But I can easily afford $6 for the occasional lunch so I was embarrassed to think that I had actually tried to get free parking, even though I was really just following the sheeple.

If you couldn’t follow this DO NOT WORRY. The short story is that during covid, they changed the operation of the parking lot AND the surrounding streets (one-way streets became two-way and dedicated bike lanes with curbs were added) and some of us are still figuring out how it all works. For many years when I didn’t work early in the day, I would be downtown just about every other day collecting artifacts for eventual donation to the Kiwanis rummage sale🤣🤣🤣 I would just swing down there without even thinking. 10 minute drive at most.

Anyway it was good to meet up and talk (or not talk) about the election with like-minded relatives. And I am now intimately familiar with that parking lot and the surrounding streets.

P.S. The UU says CHEERS from Asheville.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 10th, 2024 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.