Yay for snow…
2 minute read
December 4, 2003, 1:37 PM
Yippity-hoo. It’s snowing. And as such, I slid right into a ditch on my way up to Harrisonburg today on I-64. I was not hurt, and neither was the car, but still, it’s an excellent example of why you need to drive carefully. And if that’s not enough, seeing a huge semi with a big chunk out of it jackknifed in the median of I-81 (thankfully not blocking traffic) should convince you to take it, as gangsters on The Flintstones would say, “Nice and slow.”
But yes, it is indeed snowing outside. Augusta County schools were closed today. So were Harrisonburg City schools, Rockingham County Schools, Blue Ridge Community College, and a host of others. JMU was in session.
Meanwhile, a brief discussion of the rules of the parking lot: there are none. See, some JMU students are some seriously spoiled brats. Now due to landing in the ditch on my way up, I was late for class. So I had to seriously hunt for parking. I first went to the gravel lot, which was full. So I went to J-Lot, my usual lot, which was also full. There was this one girl in her little yuppie SUV sitting smack in the middle of the end of one of the (wide) lanes in the lot. Turns out that sitting and impeding traffic was her way of hunting for parking. But we’ll get to that later.
I take a considerably different approach. I don’t sit when I’m hunting for parking. I circle. I am constantly in motion, scanning my surroundings for pedestrians heading towards the vehicles like they’re going to leave, and I’m also looking for brake lights or reverse-lights. Then of course, like a lion finding an injured animal right around mealtime, I pounce. As soon as that spot’s vacated, I’m in it.
So what does the girl have to do with it? I’m circling, and take the spot that Ms. I’m-Sitting-Here thought was rightfully hers. She gets out of the car and tells me that I took her space. I am rather unsympathetic about it, for a few reasons.
First of all, I believe that if you want something, a good parking space in this case, you have got to work to get it. Thus I was actively hunting for a space, and pounced when I found it. The world is not served up on a silver platter, no matter how much we wish it was. Secondly, a reminder of the rules of the parking lot: there are none. And as such, the biggest, ugliest vehicle has the right of way. In our case, that would be me, with my van being much bigger and much uglier, and still covered with dirt and grass from the ditch incident an hour earlier. I could have cared less about the girl thinking it was her space.
And so there you are. I got a decent parking space, and I plan to leave the car where it is for a little while now that I got it in place. And besides, today is a good day, as I got my first paycheck from Wal-Mart…
Web site: Triple-A... so helpful, as they pulled me right out of the ditch
Song: "She'll be coming 'round the mountain when she comes..."
Quote: "Listen, b----. I don't care if you think this was your spot or not, but I don't see your name on it, and I got into it first." (No, I didn't say this, but I did think it)
Categories: Driving, JMU, Weather, Winter weather