Wednesday, 27 June 2018

A fun note left on my bike by a neighbor, regarding parking of course!


Found this really fun note taped to my bike yesterday: https://imgur.com/gallery/lIdXrTkContext: I live in a small apartment building that is situated on a street otherwise occupied by single-family houses. Street parking is the absolute norm, including for the houses which mostly tend to have small driveways that can accommodate a single vehicle. Our apartment building happens to have a small driveway which is clearly designed for a single vehicle, but really exists as more of an access point to the rear of the building where the trash cans and laundry access are. An overwhelming majority of the residents here never park their vehicle in that driveway, myself and my girlfriend includes, with some occasional exceptions. It’s not a problem for someone to park there, but it’s honestly easier just to park on the street (and no less convenient) and so that’s what most of us do. There is a relatively new couple here who seem to delight in sparing themselves those extra 15 steps, and so they park in the driveway at every opportunity. Who cares, right? No problem at all.Background: I’ve lived here for a total of 3 years, and about six months into my stay here, my motorcycle (a GSXR 750) was stolen off the street whilst parked right in front of the building. It had also been knocked over before that, as had a previous residents CBR. Amazingly, that bike was recently recovered a few states away, and $2,000 dollars of maintenance later she is running like a dream; a bit worse for the wear cosmetically, but still with less than 12,000 miles on her and hopefully plenty more to come. It’s been an absolute dream having her back, as I’d walked away from riding in the wake of that loss (no theft coverage — whoops). In the several weeks since I’ve gotten the bike back, I’ve continued parking it on the street just as I used to, albeit with theft coverage this time. I’ve already had a couple of close calls with people parking extremely close to the bike which is fine, but after everything I’ve been through, I have been pretty stressed out about something happening to her. That honeymoon phase all over again, as I’m sure you guys understand very well.Maybe four or five days ago, I decided to park the bike in the little “driveway” for a change because why not? I had a bit of maintenance to do and that would give me more space, and the bike seemed a bit safer there anyway. I even took care to park the bike somewhat off-center so people could walk (or maneuver a bicycle) around the bike without having to skirt around it by waking in the grass. Life got crazy for a few days and I haven’t ridden it since. I’ve eyeballed it a few times and vaguely wondered whether I was being inconsiderate leaving it there for more than a day or two, but I knew I’d be riding any day now and again, there is no real convenience to be had by parking a vehicle there beyond saving yourself 15 or 20 steps from your car to the apartment door. So I left the bike.I can understand that it is arguably somewhat selfish to just leave the bike there for days for no real reason, but I’m amazed at how triggered this person (I’m quite certain it’s a couple) is, and how they really seem to harp on how “tiny” the bike is and how huge the driveway is. Then there is the insistence that I should pull up so someone can wedge their car in behind me, even though it is clearly designed for a single vehicle (or two, if you’re willing to block the sidewalk which is a dick move in a pedestrian-intensive neighborhood). Furthermore, that would require me to take the bike off into the grass to awkwardly get around the car.This driveway is just sort of ‘there’, really. There is no promise of access to the spot advertised with the building, and no signage whatsoever. As I said, an overwhelming majority of the residents don’t ever bother parking there because it just creates the hassle of having to back out onto a tight street with no real upside. I’ll follow up with a picture of my bike in the space, but I’m curious what everyone’s thoughts are on this. I’m really tempted to leave a copy of this note on everyone’s door along with a fun and cheeky — but also eviscerating — response.Edit: here is the bike in the driveway. via /r/motorcycles https://www.reddit.com/r/motorcycles/comments/8u9s97/a_fun_note_left_on_my_bike_by_a_neighbor/?utm_source=ifttt

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