Dreading the dew point

September 14, 2011

I normally post in the evenings, but this morning I’m so anxious, I figured it was time to write earlier.  It’s mid-September and after some lovely cool days, today the temperature and the dew point are both up, which means my pain is too.

Now, on a different day, this might not be so bad.  It’s going to be hard for me to walk, so on a different day I would drive to work.  I also have plans after work, and I’m stubborn and refuse to miss them, so I’d drive there too.  Then afterwards, I would drive home.  In between, I’d stay off my feet as much as possible.  It wouldn’t be ideal, but I’d make it work.  After all, this is why I bought a car.

Unfortunately, today is not a typical day.  Thanks to city construction in my neighborhood, there are very few parking spaces for a whole lot of cars.  That means that if I drive to work, I’ll lose my parking space (which is already several blocks away), and when I get home, I’ll have to park so far from home that I may not feel up to walking it.

There’s no good answer here, just uncertainty, frustration, and pain.  Wish me luck.

 

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1 Comment | Expectations, Frustration, Pain, Parking, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

City living: good or evil?

September 11, 2011

Now don’t get me wrong, I generally love living in the city.  It has so much to offer.  But that doesn’t mean there aren’t days that are incredibly difficult.  And in all fairness, if I lived in the city but had a driveway, this wouldn’t be an issue.  Sadly, I don’t have a driveway, so the next few weeks are going to be very difficult.

 

Last year I got rid of my relatively-young-but-laden-with-problems car.  I thought about not getting a new car.  For the first time, I was using public transportation to get to work.  I could walk to the grocery store.  I could use Zipcar for trips outside of the city.  But now matter how many work-arounds I considered, I always got stuck on what I’d do on the days I couldn’t walk even the two blocks to the closest Zipcar spots.  What then?  I’d be stuck.  So I got a car.  3 weeks later, someone crashed into it while it was parked.  It was totaled and I couldn’t drive it for 3 weeks while it was getting fixed.  Just a couple weeks after it came back from the shop, it got stuck in the ice that had formed where I’d parked, so I couldn’t drive it for about a week.

 

Now, the city is doing construction in my neighborhood, so from 7am-7pm I can’t park anywhere near my apartment.  Depending on which notices are correct, this will be for 2 or 3 weeks.  I’ve been asking friends if they might have an extra space in their driveway that I can use.  If not, I’ll park in another neighborhood, then walk or take the bus home, and go back every few days to move my car (they ticket if you stay in the same space for too long, even when it’s a legal space!)  I just have to hope that I don’t need the car for the next few weeks.  Lately, I’ve been driving to work more than taking the T (our subway) because I’ve been having fatigue and/or pain.  I really hope that stays at bay for a while.

 

I love living in the city overall.  I really do.  But I have to ask myself: why did I buy a car if I keep having weeks at a time that I can’t even get to it?

 

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1 Comment | Frustration, Intrusions, Limitations, Parking, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Wanting solid info from the RMV

September 7, 2011

It’s not like I want to have a handicapped placard.  I would like nothing better than to be healthy enough to not need one.  Since I do need the placard, I use it.  I just wish I knew more about the laws around it.

After a lot of searching, I finally found some info here and here on the MA RMV web site.  After all that searching, the site doesn’t inspire confidence.  For example, it provides information on handicapped plates, but when I tried to get one years ago, I was told they aren’t offered anymore, only placards are offered.  Either I was given wrong information, or the site is very out of date.  Both seem very possible.

Now, try finding info on where you can use it!  #7 in the FAQ seems to be the place, but it’s incredibly vague (and wrong.)  Can I use it in HP Van spaces if I don’t have a van?  It doesn’t mention that.  I can disregard some parking meters but not all – that’s NOT HELPFUL!  Why can the MA Port Authority manage to not exempt placards?  Do others do it too, or is it just them?  Please be specific!  And about all U.S. States recognizing the MA placard, well, maybe that should be more specific too.  Parts of Washington D.C. didn’t, the last time I was there.  I also stumbled upon a city in Connecticut this summer that didn’t recognize them.  Why is this?  And why doesn’t the web site mention it?  And according to the FAQ some parking rules must be followed but not others.  What if there’s a 2 hour parking limit?  Do I need to obey that?  If so, doesn’t that run counter-intuitive to the exempt meter rule?  If not, then say so!

I know many people who have had the same frustrations.  When I call to ask questions, I can’t seem to get someone on the phone who knows what they’re talking about.

These placards are provided by the state RMV.  Many rules apply to them.  Would it be so horrible to let us know what those rules are?

 

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Leave a Comment » | Educating, Expectations, Frustration, Limitations, Pain, Parking, Politics, Rants, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

More pure selfishness

August 12, 2011

There’s this small dead-end road by my office building and it only has two parking spaces on it, both handicapped, both clearly labeled handicapped.  More days than not, I see people parked there illegally.  It’s not in view of a main road, so I guess they figure they’re less likely to be ticketed.  Meantime, that doesn’t mean people need the spots any less!

So today I’m walking past, and there’s a van parked illegally in one of the spaces.  A truck is parked such that it’s not in either space, but it’s blocking both.  Right.  So the driver knew the spaces were there and knew they weren’t supposed to park there and made sure to obey the actual letter of the law, just not the spirit of it.  Real nice.  So I did the only logical thing: I called the town police.  I hope they ticketed both vehicles.  I went back to work, of course, so I have no idea what, if anything, happened.  I have to wonder what those drivers were thinking?  What went through their heads that they figured they needed those spaces more than someone with a disability?  If it was their mother, brother, friend, child who was disabled and needed that space, would they have acted the same way?  I’ll never know, but I just can’t imagine what possible way someone could justify this.

Chances are, one day they’ll understand.  Until then, I’ll just keep calling the police to have them ticketed.  And tonight I’m emailing my state rep to find out about increasing fines for parking illegally in handicapped spaces.  You might want to do the same.

Leave a Comment » | Educating, Frustration, Insensitive, Parking, Rants | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

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