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Most annoying things Vol. 2

Old age rage

Is there nothing more annoying than senior citizens who park in the parents with prams spots? I'm sorry, but there was an old dear who needed a good earful at the Canberra Centre the other day as I made yet another circuit of the car park. I'm not even eligible to park in the parents with prams spots anymore now that my children are mobile of their own accord _ (Perhaps I could keep a quick-folding umbrella folder in the boot and plonk a 25kg five year old in it? Is there an upper age limit on putting children in prams? Would your 17-year-old do it? Do you even need a child to qualify as a parent with pram? Prams can be quite useful for carrying your shopping.) - but this still bugged me. Mainly because senior citizens are the first to complain if you dare park in a disabled spot (and I ask what is it about being old that qualifies you as disabled anyway). Not that I do park in disabled spots unless of course ....

Suburban sacrifice

I've got two grumpy kids in the back of the car and I remember we need milk (harder than it seems) and every damn carpark at the local shops is taken by people boozing and cruising at the corner cafe or pub. I don't begrudge these people their chardonnay after work on a Wednesday but why do they have to take up all the parking spots? Don't drink and drive people! Us locals don't stand a chance. I'm all for designated spots for the locals with I Live In Lyneham stickers on the windscreen. And you'd think that at 10 on a Sunday morning it would be easy to duck up and get some freshly baked buns for morning tea. But no, in the time it took me to find a park I could have baked a batch. And it wasn't the cafe crowd but the church crowd, walking across the road for the morning's service. I don't begrudge these people their weekend worship but do they have to take up all the parking spots....

Not so beaut ute

And speaking of parking spots ... to the idiot who reversed into my car while we were parallel parked - thank you very much. Not so much of a "I'm sorry but I backed into your car when I was leaving" note under the windscreen wiper, and here's my insurance details. I'd given you enough room to get out, plenty of room in fact as I hate it when I get parked in like that, do unto others and all that ... and I hate it when people take advantage of my safe driving practice of leaving enough room between the car in front of you and your own car. It's not an invitation to sneak in there. And the same goes at the other end. I've been known to jam on the brakes if you're too close in my rear vision mirror. Be warned.

That rant was rather relieving. I'm hanging out for the NRMA's webcam equipped toll booths to come to Canberra. Drivers can record short video messages that are posted directly to this website.

Close to 150 videos and more than 100 written messages have been added to the site since it was launched earlier this week and that's without a lot of promotion. I'm slowly searching through them looking for the real road rage. Public transport, e-tags, traffic congestion, the price of petrol ... blah blah blah.

I want to find out if there are more politically incorrect people like me happy to pay out on the pension set.

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Posted By: Karen Hardy on 31/03/2009 10:01:40 AM | Comments (16)

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Date: Newest first | Oldest first

I am absolutely against "parents with prams" getting their own car parking spots. Direct discrimination against those that don't have kids. Your choice to have them (including the requriement to haul them in and out of prams). Sorry - but I take offence and park in them. If you confronted me in the capr park you would get a mouthful back from me.

Posted by you kidding, 31/03/2009 10:42:38 AM

Perhaps you should leave your car at home a lot more and WALK with your kids to your LOCAL shops...

Posted by obesity aware, 31/03/2009 11:23:41 AM

here's an idea. Not disabled? WALK to your local shops. Gasp!

Posted by eeyore, 31/03/2009 11:28:42 AM

Thankyou, thankyou, obesity aware and you kidding! Can somebody please, please tell me why women who choose to breed get their own place in a carpark? For people with disabilities, absolutely. For someone who can't push a pram/hold a kid's hand for a couple metres more? Get real. I won't be penalised for my inability to have children, and God help the person who is arrogant enough to have a go at me without knowing my personal circumstances.

Posted by Get Real, 31/03/2009 11:53:12 AM

Seniors using disabled parking spots? You must be kidding. Disabled tickets are hard to get: your GP must certify you cannot walk more than a very short distance, age being irrelevant.

Posted by oldtimer, 31/03/2009 11:59:42 AM

who actually has that much trouble trying to find a park? yeah civic does get busy, and you may need to walk for 5 minutes till you get to the shops, but seriously, that rant would have taken more effort then it would be to find a park, i agree about being annoyed about the person reversing into you, that does suck, but i prefer to park in canberra then sydney or melbourne anyday

Posted by ben dover, 31/03/2009 12:46:40 PM

What's with the anti-parents with prams parking spots? Have you ever tried to get a kid out of the backseat and into a pram while parked in a normal sized spot?

Posted by Nat, 31/03/2009 1:06:06 PM

Just wondering how do you know if the person parking in the 'parents with prams' spot is not picking up a child/grandchild/neice/nephew??

Posted by Dani, 31/03/2009 1:38:34 PM

I've never understood the logic behind having parents with prams parking. Seriously, if these people are not capable of transferring their kids from the car to a pram without having designated spots for doing it, are they competent to be parents? Oh .. and yes, I have not only tried, but *pause for applause* succeeded in getting a child out of the back seat and into a pram in a normal parking spot. I've even managed to get a young adult out of the car and into a wheelchair in a normal size parking space too - because there were so many friggin' 'parents with prams' parking spaces, there weren't enough disabled spots.

Posted by Emm, 31/03/2009 1:48:14 PM

Parent with pram car parks are wider than usual to allow customers extra space to pick up their children from the back seat. In a regular, car spot it is very difficult to do this, given how narrow they are. When my children were younger I simply chose not to go shopping unless I absolutely had to. It was often very difficult to find a parents with pram car park.

Posted by Mum, 31/03/2009 3:47:51 PM

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Karen Hardy escapes her life as wife and mother by masquerading as a journalist at The Canberra Times. In the office she can go to the toilet by herself and occassionally write something that might make someone smile.