I had some days booked off work for Rob's Crossing and my sister visiting so I needed to get a job done at work in advance of the deadline which meant I actually went into work in the middle of the night. I work at an office in downtown Hamilton, so I wanted to park closer than usual to avoid walking around in the dark, so I parked on a main street in front of a parking meter; didn't pay since it was outside of the "metered" times and went into work. A few hours later, I come out to a surprise ticket for "parking on a through highway at 2:45am" What? I look around for a no parking sign, nothing; that day, during normal work hours, I ask my co-workers if they understand the ticket, first they question my sanity for being at work at 2:45am, but they also don't understand the ticket. So I inquire of my friend Mike, a retired cop, if he thinks I can fight the ticket, giving him all the details. He told me to pay the ticket because I had in fact broken the law. Here is the law, in case you didn't know about it either:
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No Parking Through Street 2am-7am
The designation of Through Streets is a practice which most North American cities use to provide services during the evening hours when traffic volume is relatively light. This practice allows the City to sweep, plough snow, etc. more efficiently, safely and with less inconvenience to the public. Vehicles parking on a Through Street may be issued a Parking Infraction Notice.
The designation of Through Streets is a practice which most North American cities use to provide services during the evening hours when traffic volume is relatively light. This practice allows the City to sweep, plough snow, etc. more efficiently, safely and with less inconvenience to the public. Vehicles parking on a Through Street may be issued a Parking Infraction Notice.
All major entrances to the City of Hamilton are posted with signs, advising motorists of the Through Street parking restriction.
Ticket was paid.
Then I had another parking war, where the wound weren't as deep:
Again I was working a little extra, past 5, and all of the sudden noticed I needed to pick-up Dahlia from daycare that instant. There was no time to go to the parking lot and drive to the daycare, instead I ran to the daycare, just in the nick of time. It was raining outside, so instead of the haul over to the parking lot with Dahlia in the downpour, we caught a bus home, saving us a bit of time and some sogginess too. The car was legally parked until 6am the next morning, Bill and I had swimming scheduled that night, so I could just be dropped off on way home from practice and grab the car then, except that swimming ended up being cancelled due to the rain and we never ventured out to go get the car. Plan B, make getting the car a workout, I would wake up early and run and get the car. But I slept in, all the extra work I'd been doing likely, & when I woke and looked at my watch it was already 10 to 6. No way I'd get there in time, but I threw on my sneakers and ran out the door. I ran like a girl on a mission (maybe I should use this scenario for all my training) It was 20 minutes past the 6am cut-off when I got there, but I didn't get a ticket. Oh my, it really felt like I won the race! Beat the parking ticket person! What joy I was feeling! I hopped in the car with a big smiling. Driving, it starts to rain. I beat the rain too!
You win some, you lose some. When you lose, maybe you can learn something (like a law you never knew) and when you win, you can even smile about the rain.
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