Well, the contrast from village life to big city life is already overwhelming to me. On Wednesday I had to learn how to parallel park ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE ROAD!! Yes, yes, let's not forget that I can't really parallel park on the right side of the road unless I have three carlengths of room and can just pull into the space. Even so, if we don't want to pay 200 euros a month for a permanent parking place in some bumfuck location 5 blocks from our apartment, I have to learn how to parallel park. And Americans like me, who had been living in suburbia for so long, really never had to learn how to parallel park. It isn't even a requirement for a driver's license in Tennessee.
So here I am, struggling after a long, tiring day, trying to parallel park in a teeeiny space on the left side of the road. Luckily, I had my sister-in-law, a woman of infinite patience, directing me. After about 6 hours of trying, I finally got into the spot (ok, maybe it was more like 10 minutes, but still!). It wasn't a perfect parking job (I was jutting out just a little wittle bit) but I was pretty damn proud of myself.
Flash forward to today, returning home from a long day cleaning up and closing up our apartment in Litochoro. (By the way, soooo glad that is done) We didn't think we'd get a parking spot close enough, since it was Friday evening. But we had a fekton of crap to bring up (thankfully with the help of aforementioned sister-in-law and youngest brother-in-law), so it was either block the road entirely or find a decent place to park. And lo and behold, what appeared before thine eyes? The perfect spot - but again, requiring parallel parking on the left side of the road. And even more pressure, there was an SUV behind me (beware of Greeks driving SUVs). So I turn on my blinkers, move into position a car length ahead, turn my wheel all the way and manage to parallel park perfectly on the first try! Fucking amazing.
I must be blessed.
4 comments:
You wanna know the secret to pararell parking? Get really pissed off? If your too busy blowing a fuse with the person in the car with you or if your screaming at someone down the telephone. You'll find for some reason that because your really mad, the car manages to park itself perfectly first attempt!
Haha! Well, I can't do anything while arguing but argue. I totally lose all perspective if I get angry.
For me to parallel park, I need to concentrate. Hard. Maybe someday it will become second nature, we'll see
I rely on drivers like you, Mel, to park my car. When they can't fit into small spaces or parallel park, I wait till they give up and then inhale and park my car. The best places for me to find parking are on the "stenodromo" (thin streets) on a steep hill. I have become a connoisseur at squeezing myself into those spaces. Desperation is the mother of parking skills in this country. LOL
Yea, no doubt. At least our neighborhood is a semi-quiet one, it seems that we'll be able to find reasonably close places to park. Of course, we won't be using the car much at all, since everything we need is right in the area. And we can get relatives to drive us other places. =p
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