Typical...

One of the things that I could always count after nine years in Georgetown is the fact that I would get 2-3 parking tickets a year.

And tonight I got the farewell parking ticket from the highly efficient Ubermetermaid Storm Troopers crack squad of Georgetown parking enforcers. It brought back memories of the day that parking meters went from expiring at 6:30PM to expiring at 10PM (no notice given) and the orgy of tickets that followed; or the two or three times that a massive truck would take a spot and a half of the space on 31st Street, just before the Canal, but I would get the ticket because my van's rear end would then stick out a foot past the "no parking" sign.

But tonight, when I arrived at the gallery, I found the primo Doris Day parking spot (so named because I always noticed how in the old Doris Day movies everyone always seems to find a parking spot in New York City or wherever the movie takes place, right in front of where they are going). And so I park, and feed the meter six quarters before I notice that it is blinking "fail."

So I tape a piece of paper over the meter, explaining what the issue is, and then proceed to unload the van. In between the time that it takes to carry a few bottles of wine from 31st Street to the Canal Square, on a return trip I find a shiny new ticket from Officer Johnson, and the note gone.

A ticket for $25 samolians as a farewell gift from Georgetown to me.