It was gray earlier, but sunnier now, I think. I can’t keep up with the happenings of outside.
Says nothing about rain though, so we’ll see.
Is it weird to say I kind of miss parking meters?
Yes, you needed change, and yes it always seemed like you had too much or too little and yes, you couldn’t extend it unless you dashed back from wherever you were, yet more change in hand, but there was something so simple about it.
Except when it ate your change.
I may not be making my case here.
In Chicago, it’s been a long time since we had them, they went to pay boxes and then an app. You can still pay at box if you don’t have the app, but like everything else, it’s digital.
Gone is the era when you knew you were going to have a good day because you found a spot with time left on the meter.
Gone is the era when you could leave a spot with that little sense of satisfaction that you were passing it on.
Now if you don’t use your time, the money vanishes into the ether. And someone has to pay fully to occupy it.
Imagine how many times they rent a space.
And there aren’t “spaces” anymore, either. Just stretches of curb that will fit your car or won’t.
Parking meters are one of those things that were ubiquitous until they weren’t. A part of life that was background, until the background was dismantled.
And I can tell you something with utter certainty: you aren’t getting time for a nickel.
Oh that bottom-of-the-purse scrounging.
Yes, yes, I hear myself.
It’s not only species that go extinct. Those tiny rituals, those things you see so much you don’t see them, even they can fade until they’re no more than a memory.
It’s a world that doesn’t change yet changes constantly. And we are far too small and insignificant to make the call as to whether that’s good or bad.
Anyway, that’s it for me on this Thursday, I hope you have a truly great day, one that feels as if there’s a meter waiting for you out there with time on it.
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