Parking Hell with a Happy Ending

I believe Parking Hell is the garage under 50 Staniford Street where The Amazing Bob and my Primary Care Physician offices are located. Invariably some big horking SUV or pick up occupies a space and a half or more, berthing their giant boat of a vehicle across two spots, effectively eliminating an entire precious and scarce spot. Also too, the words Compact Car Only seem to be incomprehensible to the pilots of these monsters.

It’s never a Prius or one of those cute new Fiats. No. It’s always some giant tank of a vehicle with a name like Armada, Sequoia, or Expedition. The idea behind the model names, mebbe, is to convey the sense of security, well being and superiority one might feel if sheltered by a giant tree or protected by a massive, scary army. OR the auto marketeers want to entice intrepid explorer types. You know, the sort who’re willing to travel to far, hostile reaches of the planet as long as they’ve got a craft the size of the Nimitz with cushy leather seats, polished aluminum wheels, wood-grain trim accents and a guaranteed awesome Sony® Sound System.

In any case, I managed to wedge Bix into the space and even emerge without first coating myself in Vaseline but it was a tight thing. If the driver was as portly and inelegant as his/her vehicle, I was certain they’d not be able to get back into their road ship without destroying my driver’s side door. Luckily, TAB and I were done and outta there first.

 n.b.: I know the vessel in the pic isn’t all that far over the line BUT this was a compact car only space (SMALLER to start with!) and there was a huge concrete stanchion on my right. NO wiggle room.

Though mid afternoon when we completed our mission, rush hour traffic was in full bloom. By the time we pulled into Valhalla I'd gone Full Metal Cantankerous. Not pretty. And then I checked the mail.

The Gods of Fabulous Fiction had left me a prezzie—The Goddess of Buttercups and Daisies. It's by one of my big time fav authors, Martin Millar. Frustratingly, I'd not been able to find it in the local book emporiums so I'd had to order online and wait and wait. *sigh*

From The Guardian's review: 

Set in the Athens of 421BC, Buttercups and Daisies is a comedy that is by turns rambunctious, satirical and bittersweet. It features appearances by Socrates and a young Plato, the playwright Aristophanes and, intervening in the affairs of the city-state and its neighbours, sundry capricious gods and near-immortal heroes. 

Also mentioned is that:

Neil Gaiman likened Millar to Kurt Vonnegut, “if he’d hung around with entirely the wrong sort of people”. 

AWESOME! If you've not read Millar yet, pick up The Good Fairies of New York. That was my first and it totally hooked me.

Thank you Mister Millar and the book gods for saving my day!