There is no inside latch to the back door of my minivan ...

There is no inside latch to the back door of my minivan ...

All right … I tend to go to this one park and ride because of its general location for a variety of purposes. It is not the largest of lots, but it seems big enough. However, with no real predictable pattern, it sometimes is completely overflowing. People park in creative ways on those days, but not in ways in which traffic flow through the lot should be dangerously affected. Even with that kind of extra parking option, sometimes there just is not a spot. Now, if I am running late, it really is my fault. But, on days when I am not running late, but am in fact running early, this really (!$$#$ me off …

To top it off, the transit authorities have started posting warning signs about the extra parking spots people create and are threatening to tow the offenders. They don’t seem to think a re-striping or new layout to maximize the space given is their best option, apparently.

So, since with my luck in these matters I know I would get towed, I try and make sure that I either park in a real spot or go to a different park and ride.

Today, I needed to be at that park and ride. I was actually a little earlier than normal and thought that there were bound to be spots. Nope. People were already creatively parking. In fact, the radio traffic report guy was expressing puzzlement over the volume of traffic today. My luck.

And then I saw it. There was a spot. My van should fit right inside it cleanly with a couple inches to spare on each side so that the tires would clearly be in the spot. Slowly and carefully, so as to not damage my pristine vehicle I eased into the spot. It fit in. I was clearly inside the lines. Success!

And then I realized it. I could not open the door on either side more than a few inches. Nope. Drat! I actually expressed a different word at this point than drat.

Given that I really didn’t want to go to another park and ride …
Given that I really didn’t want to be late for work …
Given that I really didn’t want to give up my spot …

I did the logical thing …

I backed up enough to get out of the van and popped open the rear hatch since it only opens from the outside (I just realized this today, the first thing I did was to climb back and realize there was no latch.).

So, I then pulled back into the spot, climbed out the back, and missed my bus.

Twenty minutes later the bus that is supposed to come by every eleven minutes or so finally showed up.

I wasn't late. I just wasn't early ...