Yeah Yeah, I know festivus is a winter ‘holiday’ but I love the word and as I thought about the jump-off to festival season- the annual Flower Mart- the now-famous festivus phrase tripped through my mind so I thought I’d share. I felt it appropriate here since the Flower Mart is positioned one block away from my pad; just this morning I had no idea the festival is scheduled for this weekend, it was brought to my attention by someone who does not even reside in my neighborhood. Good thing too, had I not known I’d be an angry woman right now. Any city dweller knows when May hits you better take note of the neighborhood festivals or you’ll be in a world of hurt circling block after concentric block, getting further and further away from your block, looking for the permit parking you pay for annually to try to avoid such a situation. During these times folks from neighboring barrios descend on your little slice of city life and take over the joint. Typically what this means is while they park in all the permit parking spots (which are two free hours of parking-a coup for any non-permit citizen) you-the neighborhood resident- actually can’t find parking and end up paying out of pocket. You hope you only have to toss a couple of quarters in the meter but I’ve actually been forced to pay parking lot fees which are always steeper. Hmmm this is starting to sound like a gripe but I’m not feeling negative about it, I just know to prepare and get-in where I fit in. My boss was so kind as to allow me to leave 30 minutes early to beat the five o’clock gridlock and for that I am grateful. Also my neighbor, (shout out to P. Collins!) actually put me D with a parking secret today, she told me that one street over has old-school meters (meaning you betta have some change) that only run until 6 pm Mon-Fri! What?! She hasn’t lived in this area for a year yet and I’ve been here for five; I never knew but today I tucked that golden nugget in my back pocket for safe-keeping and traded it in for a parking spot that does not require me to: a) move my car tonight after all visitors flee the area or b) get up with an alarm clock on a Saturday morning to pay for parking every two hours. Now that I’ve chilled out a bit to share this little tidbit, I’m putting on my walking shoes and heading up the block to check out all of the pretty flowers and the tasty food vendors. I’ll check back in with a couple of pictures in a little bit. Latas!
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