The Parking God ALWAYS Wins

Arlington Heights is notorious for its strict parking enforcement and ultra confusing signage. And parking is always almost impossible to find in the downtown area. I've gotten so many parking tickets, that I should have a short wing named for me in the new Village Hall (aka Taj Mahal). Street parking in the residential areas is also strictly enforced with no overnight parking allowed.

Last night, Dave and I both forgot that his truck was on the street and went to bed around 10. I woke up bright and early with my first thought being, "Oh shit! Dave got a parking ticket!" Away to the window I flew like a flash, tore open the shutters and threw up the sash. (Oh, wait, wrong story, never mind.)

Anyway, I looked out the window and his truck was GONE. Dave doesn't leave in the morning until 7:30 and this was 6:45, so now my thought was "Oh shit! Dave's truck was TOWED!" I yelled for Dave, but it turned out he had left at 6:00 because he had a 6:30am meeting. When I finally reached him on his cell phone, he said he had not gotten a ticket. Glory! Hallelujah! I said I would offer up a sacrifice to the Parking God, but got busy and forgot.

Fast forward to this evening . . . Dave and I decided to go out for Thai food before he leaves in the morning. We drive around downtown Arlington Heights for nearly an eternity in search of parking, but finally found a spot about a block away in a public lot. Just as we were getting out of the car, we discovered a sign 90% blocked by shrubbery indicating we would be towed by parking in what the sign told us was a private lot.

We continued our search for any parking and found a spot near, but not in front of, the Metropolis Performing Arts Centre. There was a sign that we both read "2 hour parking 6am-5pm" and then "no parking after 5pm on weekends." Since tonight is Tuesday, we parked and were off to fill his very loud and empty tummy.

Dinner was fantastic, but upon our return, Dave says "what's that on your car?" It was a ticket. The sign actually said "no parking after 5pm." Damn. Now I've parked there 1000 times and I'm certain the sign used to say "no parking after 5pm on weekends" and there's even a blank line below "5pm" that appears to have something covered. But I'm not disputing the ticket. I earned it fair and square.

After all, the Parking God always wins.