.... random rants and rambles. no agenda. yet.

Maybe this is a weird old Britishism, but there are few things that seem to annoy people more than not being able to park their cars.

I recall a few years ago, my mate lived in a near-constant state of mild paranoia simply because she wanted to park OUTSIDE HER OWN HOUSE, but her neighbours were, well, weird, and very possessive of the small but very important area of tarmac that they believed was theirs, and THEIRS ALONE. Good God.

I didn't understand that then because I couldn't drive, but now that I can, I am getting there.

Me and C are very fortunate to have a small side road running down the side of our house which we can park up (but I can't reverse out because it's soooo steep), as well as a space at the front of our house, which has been taken up by someone else for the last week - we nipped out briefly last Sunday and were rather annoyed to see it squatting in "our" space when we got back.

And it has been there ever since.

I can't think about that too much, otherwise I get mad and remind myself that only crazy people get hung up over parking, and really, there are far more important things to worry about in life. And besides, we're lucky to a) have a car in the first place, and b) have a side road to park it in.

Obviously, the side road would be more useful if I could actually retrieve the car AFTER I have parked it there (i.e. I can drive up it, but not back down again). It would also be good if the nice man opposite didn't have a huge, butch truck type vehicle - which I am secretly a bit jealous of - that needs plenty of space to turn in the road, so we have to keep our car out of the way.

Then, it wouldn't have mattered that I parked my car at a weird angle in front of our house this morning, because a) squatter car was still there, b) I'm going out soon, and c) I really couldn't be bothered to think creatively. As it happened, Truck Man had to drive ever so slowly and carefully past my car, inch by inch, at exactly the right angle. I was quite impressed, and told him I wouldn't do that again.

So squatter car is really quite a pain.

But I am nowhere near as car parking obsessed as all the people in Hebden who write letters to the local paper every single week, arguing about the plans for the new Garden Street development. It's now become a personal slanging match and isn't very nice to read. I think I'll keep out of that one.