New Room New Views

I just moved into the biggest room in my 3 bedroom apartment. Not only do I have more space for all my stuff but I have a different view of the city. As I type this, I am watching out of the corner of my eye, the east and west bound traffic on 96th street creep up and down the hill. I can see the buses lurching forward and stopping to pick up and drop off all the tired passengers. The cars line up and stop and then the light switches over and its time for them to move forward. A car just parked in an award winning spot right in front of a building. It took two tries but it was worth it.

I can see into the next building and a man is playing the guitar while his roommate is cooking in the kitchen.

I can see all of this with a birds eye view from a high floor in a high rise. Boy am I lucky to live in such an amazing city.

Sweet Garbage..man

While the never ending battle to find parking every night continues, so do the stories.

A few nights ago I was circling and saw a car pulling out of a spot. I got into the correct position in front of the car so that no one else would try to zoom in and steal my space. I felt excited as a began to pull backwards. I looked in my rear view mirror only to find a garbage truck waiting to pass me to continue swallowing the refuse of the city. Panic set in and I got all nervous that I would not be able to park in one try and that would lead to horn honking and anger from the other cars behind the truck. The garbage men had jumped off their truck at this point and one of them said to me, "You can do it! I know you can!" I expressed a bit of fear with my face which he noticed and then he began to instruct me. "Turn your wheel to the right, now the left. Pull up. Ok stop. Back up and yes! you did it!" I was smiling at this point. A garbageman had helped me parallel park! I thanked him as he was heaving a bag into the gaping mouth of the truck. He smiled told me to have a great night and went on down the street.

I love NYC :)

How to find parking in NYC

Parking in NYC without having to pay for it is a real adventure. I took for granted the nice driveway and curbside parking I had in the suburbs. To park my car now I must have excellent reading skills (for the street signs), math ability (for the angles to parallel park the car) a good memory (to remember what time i have to move the car in the morning and also where i parked the night before) and patience (to drive around forever).

I have an entire routine as to how i find a parking spot every night. It involves driving down certain streets all close to my building. I start in the slightly sketchy area and work my way down. Up and down and up and down. Sometimes I get behind another person looking for a parking spot and then there is a non verbal fight for a spot.

By the time I actually find a parking spot the real fun is just beginning . I have to attempt to get into it. My parallel parking skills suck and it takes me a few times to get into the spot before I still have to correct and wiggle around. If I have to park on a main street with lots of traffic I get really nervous but I refuse to give up a spot so i get honked at a million times until I am finally in! I have yet to park in one shot. That is my goal.

One night I was parking on a main street right in front of a doorman building. The doorman, unknown to me, was standing there and watching my attempts to park. That night was particularly bad and it took me a good 5 times to get into the spot (pathetic I know). Well once i finally parked, I got out of the car and the doorman asked, "Are you a new driver?" I said,"Nope just a really bad parallel parker." He then offered to teach me how to park and after we could get dinner! I laughed and politely declined.

Who would have thought that I could get a date just by being a bad parker!