THERE are those among us who like to watch planes landing and taking off, while others sit for inexplicably long periods of time, happily watching trains move about.
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As for me, I find car parks to be a source of constant amusement, interest and drama.
There is nothing like a car park to illustrate the depths of human stupidity, impatience, and sometimes just sheer bloody-mindedness.
It all adds up to the sort of moving, and I mean that in more ways than one, drama that unfolds and then regularly regathers itself and unravels in a different direction throughout the day.
It is a fascinating mix.
There are the people who cannot readily see a parking spot so they just stop and sit, oblivious to the traffic they have blocked while vainly hoping someone will move and vacate a parking spot in the exact right spot to ensure they have only a short walk to their destination.
In contrast there are the others who keep driving around and around and around the full car parks, hoping against hope a space will magically appear in front of them just so they can get out of the car and away from the children who invariable seem to be screaming or arguing in the back seat.
Add to the mix the people who seem to view car parks as race tracks, the people towing caravans and trailers who double park behind parked cars because there is simply nowhere else large enough for them, and the random couple invariably having a domestic and yelling obscenities at each other in the middle of the cars going in all directions.
In the middle of this the people who are trying to get out of a parking spot are simply unable to, because some clown has decided to stop right in the way, and refuses to move until he or she sees a park readily available.
And when they do finally realise they need to move to allow someone out of a parking spot, they nearly collide with one of the frustrated drivers going around and around at ever increasing speeds.
Then the poor driver trying to get out of the parking spot still has to struggle because the vans and four-wheel drives parked on either side make it virtually impossible to see what is coming from either side.
So the poor motorist slowly inches his or her way out of the parking spot (I know we went metric many years ago, but saying someone centimetres the way out of a parking spot just sounds silly) while continuously looking to the left, looking to the right, and trying to make sure no car behind them is also reversing.
In the middle of trying to watch everything, the only thing they don’t see is the pedestrian who just wanders behind the reversing car, oblivious to the fact they could easily be knocked over and seriously injured.
So while the motorist has to slam on their brakes and then recover from the shock of almost knocking over a fool, several of the circling cars, like hungry sharks ready to attack, stop their circumnavigation of the car park and made bee-lines straight for the parking spot about to be vacated.
Now, maybe it’s just me, but this is where I would like the see the reversing motorist change his or her mind, and simply drive back into the parking spot and drive those waiting a little bit mad.
Now that would be interesting.