The old Victor Meldrew syndrome in me is coming to the fore again. If there’s something which usually puts me in that ‘you’ll never believe what happened to me yesterday’ flow, it’s when I’ve ventured by Car down to the Town.

Yesterday is a fine example. I had two jobs to do, 1. Go to the Supermarket (the one where they ask “Do you need a bag” even though you’re purchasing about 35 items and standing there only with a T-Shirt, Shorts and a pair of Sandals) and 2. Go to the Bank (the one who phones you with help when you have money, but just send you the Bank Charges when you don’t).

I didn’t time my journey very well, it was a busy time of the day and this meant driving around a little bit to find a space. It’s when you do this that some people’s parking really horrifies you.
In that most urgent desire to knock ten seconds off the time they’re away from their other duties, no care is given whatsoever in how they park their beloved car.
These are the people who park so close that you have to climb through the passenger door to drive yours out. This also makes you have to do a fourteen point drive to get out the space.

But, I got to the Bank and parked up in the Car Park at the back. This used to be free, but with all the Bank’s being so poor nowadays, you can understand I suppose the need to pay 50p for the compliment.

This annoyed me for a start. The last time it was only 40p and I had 3 x 20p coins on me. I put the 3 into the machine, then noticed ‘This machine does not give change’ and below that ‘Overpaying is accepted’ - Blimey !

However, I stuck the Ticket on the front window and off I went. I had half an hour, so after giving the Bank Staff a laugh, I popped around a few shops, returning in 20 minutes.

There it was, a Parking Ticket slapped accross the screen. The ticket had fallen off onto the seat (wrong way up) and I was nicked !

I couldn’t find the Warden, who by the way is a fairly decent chap, but stumbled upon a Bank Manager type getting into his Car. ‘Look at this” I said and explained it to him.
He told me that if I returned the following morning, there were ‘authorised personnel’ who could waive it for me.

This I duly did, but no-one in there knew anything about this arrangement. So the four mile detour to where I was going was wasted. The only compensation was that the Warden let me park for nothing whilst I went in.

Needless to say, whilst finding somewhere to park I came accross another car somewhat ridicuously parked. See bottom right picture.
So the poor young Mum with the Pushchair has to walk onto the busy road thus facing the peril of 45mph cars going along in a 20mph speed limit to protect the owners nice freshly cleaned vehicle from a side swipe when he shouldn’t be parked there atall (and facing the wrong way) !

How do they get away with it ?
I think it best I never leave the Lane again, the stress is too much for me. But until they find a way of growing your own coffee, sugar, baked beans and AA Batteries, I have no choice!

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