If Austin was a Hollywood starlet then its parking spaces would be the bones and ribs poking out everywhere confirming that she has and eating disorder. I weigh about 150 pounds when someone is tackling me, and after stuffing our compact sedan into one of these things I have trouble slipping out the door. At first I thought it was just a feature of a few of the places we frequent, but the more I get around, the more I realize that parking in this town practically requires you to be two dimensional.
Further complicating things is the half ‘hippie’ – half ‘cars are for pansies’ nature of the place that means you’re as likely to find yourself sandwiched between a couple of Priuses as you are monster pickups or the ubiquitous Land Rover (lots of speed bumps in the area, must have a Land Rover). But I assure you this is not just a case of idiots with big cars and bad aim. You have to be surgical to get a mini cooper between the lines. Maybe it’s all part of an elaborate anti-car pro-public transport scheme or maybe this city just has a dress it’s drying to fit into. Either way, you’ll want to rethink that Monster Burrito if you want to slide back into the driver’s seat.
October 2, 2006 at 6:14 pm
Mini Coopers are short, but not quite as slim as one might think. And I’m glad to see I’m not making up these narrow parking spaces.