where are the parking police?

The parking at the kids’ school is atrocious. It’s a loop. The whole point of the loop is that parents can drive in, find a spot to park, pull over and let their kids out. Do they? No. Instead they just stop the car at the point in the loop closest to the school and park in the middle of the lane and let their kids out. Their kids then stand there and argue about with their parents about whether they need to zip up their coats, whether their agendas have been signed, how many hugs they need, etc. Either that or they need to finish listening to the song they started listening to when the car pulled over.

(Side note: I’m now eating a bowl of cottage cheese, following two chocolate covered granola bars to make up for losing out on my salad. Thought you’d like to know.)

Right, parking lot. People just park in the middle of the driving lane and let their kids out. Sometimes they’ll park but only if they can park in the first half of the loop. The second half of the loop? Empty! There have been times that I have literally sat on the road waiting for ten minutes to get into that parking lot because the entrance to the lot was full and nobody was pulling over and the second half of the parking lot is completely empty. Imagine the joy. You know what makes it even happier? The guy in the truck behind me who honked. Because I was choosing to sit there. There wasn’t much for options aside from driving away and leaving my kid behind.

The first day of school this year was awful. I got to the school, the lot was full. You’ll be happy to know that people actually did park. The lot isn’t that big so it filled up fast. I drove the loop. I was mad. I understand, the parents want to walk their kids in on the first day. Fine. I looped and tried to loop again but couldn’t get back in. I didn’t want to hold up traffic so I exited the parking lot and figured I’d just park on the road. The road was full. I drove all the way to the intersection and had no choice but to go around the block. It’s a big block. It’s actually a 1.3 mile block.

I finally got back to the school. The whole time the kids are yapping; “Why are we leaving?” “Are we not going to school?” “Why do you say ‘bloody’ so much?”

Deep breathing. I do this exaggerated deep breathing thing sometimes when I’m getting mad, partly because the kids think it’s hilarious, and partly because I have to do something a little odd to make myself laugh. That day the kids were imitating my deep breathing. Mommy’s awesome.

I finally parked. I got my kids to school. I think more parents need to write letters to the school or board and see if we can’t fix this situation. There is a lot of unused space that could be used to extend the parking lot. I think it might also help to have parking police so that parents aren’t sitting on the road waiting to get in while some idiot is constipating the entire parking lot hugging his kid for the eighteenth time.

Comments

Fit the Piece said…
Was the loop designed by a man? We have several in this town that have been!!!!
Sonya said…
"constipating the entire parking lot"? Ah ha ha!
Tiffany said…
I'm going to say that yes, it must have been designed by a man!

Sonya - I giggled at my own cleverness when I wrote that!
Ange said…
I laughed too! We've been walking so far this year, and we live close enough so it doesn't take long. I just dread those really super cold winter days when everyone needs to go pick up their kid. There are over 500 kids in our school so you can about imagine the chaos! Although, apparently there is a winter bus for town kids who live .8 km or more away from the school. Had I known that I would have looked for a school further away. i should have just blogged about this. lol Hope it gets less congested as the year goes on and not all the parents need to hug their kids 18 times!
Ange said…
I meant a house further away. Oops!

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