Author Topic: Very short drive  (Read 6087 times)

Arktinkerer

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Very short drive
« on: August 30, 2015, 11:13:03 PM »
So wife and I are out on our bikes and heading thru the parking lot for the college gym.  A car backs out in front of us with 4 coeds in it.  Now they have just gotten on my bad side but hey, at least they are car pooling.  Since they are headed in the same direction we wind up following them when they stop and parallel park.  All of 3 blocks.  And no, these are not the big city blocks--rather short blocks by most standards.  Took them about as long to get in the car, drive and park as to walk on a beautiful morning.  But hey, at least they were car pooling...

zephyr911

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #1 on: August 31, 2015, 07:54:04 AM »
When I encounter things like that, I prefer to imagine that they're moving the car down the block to load it up with supplies for a trip, or something else slightly less ridiculous than driving three blocks to avoid walking three blocks. Who knows, though....

Rachelocity

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #2 on: August 31, 2015, 08:08:01 AM »
This is the time of year when students move, so I'm going to imagine that the trunk of the car is filled with heavy household goods, textbooks, etc., etc.  I live in a student ghetto and I can't tell you how many people were moving furniture (two guys shlepping a couch down the block?  Typical)

slugline

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #3 on: August 31, 2015, 10:54:22 AM »
If I saw something like that I'd be guessing that there's something significantly different between those two parking locations. When I was a student there were certain areas around campus where vehicle break-ins were more frequent. If we saw a spot open up in a better-lit area, we would try to take it before nightfall.

Chris22

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #4 on: August 31, 2015, 11:28:23 AM »
Could have been the first stop on a longer trip.  Or it could be that one person was leaving from there going somewhere else and just giving the others a ride because it was on her way.  Or a thousand other scenarios. 

Heck, every morning I get in my car and drive my daughter about 500 yards to preschool.  I'm sure it looks ridiculous.  But THEN I get back in my car and drive off to work.  And no I'm not biking to work so save your keystrokes.

Arktinkerer

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #5 on: August 31, 2015, 12:44:10 PM »
We really don't have much theft like that here -- certainly not during the day.  Pretty sure from attire that the young ladies had just come from the gym.  The new parking place was near a  coffee/pastry place.  But, you all may be right.  I admit to being a bit ticked off from them backing in front of us and that put me in a mood to think poorly of them!

SailorGirl

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #6 on: August 31, 2015, 01:42:36 PM »
Oh! Oh! Oh! I can one-up you! 

I was house-sitting last week and the pups and I were hanging out on the front porch listening to the neighbors at the end of the road.  I hear the guy get into his car, drive the 8 seconds to get to the house I'm in and get out to come up to the porch.  Upon finding out that the owners are gone for the week he gets back into his car and drives the 8 seconds to get home.  He gets out of his car and resumes the conversation with whoever was standing there.

I could have walked to his house in less time then he took to get in and out of his car to drive to the house I was staying in.

cripzychiken

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #7 on: August 31, 2015, 01:51:43 PM »
So wife and I are out on our bikes and heading thru the parking lot for the college gym. 


They are headed to the gym to workout! How dare you think they should walk outside in the elements and mess up their makeup!  They need to look good to work out! /s

As someone who worked in the college gym, I'm sad to say, this is actually something I regularly heard people talk about - how they hated that working out caused them to sweat off their makeup.  Luckily, all of these people avoided the issue by just talking to people about working out rather than actually doing anything.

slugline

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #8 on: August 31, 2015, 02:03:47 PM »
I just remembered another possible prompt to drive three blocks: time-limited parking. My alma mater had some lots that were designated faculty/staff-only during certain hours, so we'd have to remember to leave those spaces to avoid a towing.

Also under the category of time limits -- cities can have ordinances that limit on-street parking in one spot to something like 48 or 72 hours. So a driver could be compelled to needlessly move her car away from a street spot just to avoid a ticket. In fact, I think I remember a forum member here starting a thread to vent about having to move his car around because his neighborhood was enforcing such a rule on the street in front of his own home! I can understand the logic here, because we don't want public streets being used as storage space for inoperable vehicles.

paddedhat

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #9 on: September 01, 2015, 10:16:41 AM »
Every time I see comments of this nature I always smile and think of the helicopter mom in my old, lily white, crime free 'hood. She would load her precious snowflakes into her car, and give them a ride to the bus stop, waiting until the school bus pulled up. The bus stop was at the end of their driveway, at least 75-80' from the garage door to where the kids got on the bus. Now, for those of you thinking, "well, if we are talking very young kids, this might not be too lazy", let me add that this practice continued until both snowflakes got their own driver's licenses, and drove their own lazy asses to school.

LPeters

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #10 on: September 02, 2015, 07:50:36 AM »
Every time I see comments of this nature I always smile and think of the helicopter mom in my old, lily white, crime free 'hood. She would load her precious snowflakes into her car, and give them a ride to the bus stop, waiting until the school bus pulled up. The bus stop was at the end of their driveway, at least 75-80' from the garage door to where the kids got on the bus. Now, for those of you thinking, "well, if we are talking very young kids, this might not be too lazy", let me add that this practice continued until both snowflakes got their own driver's licenses, and drove their own lazy asses to school.
...what

slugline

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #11 on: September 02, 2015, 02:00:16 PM »
Every time I see comments of this nature I always smile and think of the helicopter mom in my old, lily white, crime free 'hood. She would load her precious snowflakes into her car, and give them a ride to the bus stop, waiting until the school bus pulled up. The bus stop was at the end of their driveway, at least 75-80' from the garage door to where the kids got on the bus. Now, for those of you thinking, "well, if we are talking very young kids, this might not be too lazy", let me add that this practice continued until both snowflakes got their own driver's licenses, and drove their own lazy asses to school.
...what
Well, that does say AT LEAST 75-80' . . . . And we'll never know how many garden gnome ambushes were averted by this practice.

Papa Mustache

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #12 on: September 02, 2015, 03:13:24 PM »
Every time I see comments of this nature I always smile and think of the helicopter mom in my old, lily white, crime free 'hood. She would load her precious snowflakes into her car, and give them a ride to the bus stop, waiting until the school bus pulled up. The bus stop was at the end of their driveway, at least 75-80' from the garage door to where the kids got on the bus. Now, for those of you thinking, "well, if we are talking very young kids, this might not be too lazy", let me add that this practice continued until both snowflakes got their own driver's licenses, and drove their own lazy asses to school.
...what
Well, that does say AT LEAST 75-80' . . . . And we'll never know how many garden gnome ambushes were averted by this practice.

It happens. Playmates of my children live a slingshot throw away from our house. Playmate's parents drive back and forth to our house to drop off and fetch children. I don't understand it. I'd understand if they were going on to the store or the weather was lousy.

Suncoast

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #13 on: September 04, 2015, 08:38:32 AM »
BIL and SIL live next door to my wife's parents.  It is in the country, but maybe 150 yards from door to door.  I don't think I've ever seen them walk that distance.  They load up in Dodge Ram for the epic journey.

MissStache

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Re: Very short drive
« Reply #14 on: September 04, 2015, 08:47:49 AM »
I am guilty of short drives due to jockeying for parking spaces!  We have on-street parking and occasionally I can't find a space in front of my house and have to park a few streets over.  If I see a space open up, I'll move my car in front of my house so I can keep an eye on it.  Since I will typically go days and days without driving, I like being able to walk or bike by it on my way to work so I know it is safe and unbroken into.  I always chuckle to myself when I do it, thinking how silly it must seem to anyone watching me!