>>>My dad was raised on a horse ranch near Ukiah, Oregon in the northeast section of that state. He rode a horse 11 miles one way to school and walked a lot. There were no sidewalks, electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. I took pictures of where dad grew up on a recent vacation.
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>>>After my dad “enjoyed his visit to the South Pacific” as a United States Marine (World War II), he returned to be with us in San Francisco. Within one half block of our house on 18th Street, there were three grocery stores. It was around 1947 and I can recall my dad getting into his car and driving to one of the three stores for a pack of cigarettes. The distance was about 300 feet, and he would find a place to park in front of the store, as there were not too many cars in the city at that time compared to today.
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>>>If today you can find a parking place within three blocks of our old house consider yourself lucky!
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>>Tom
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>>I can't figure the moral of this anecdote: that your dad got real lazy after the War, that no American will walk when he can drive, or that there are too many cars on the road.
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>>A few years ago in Beaverton, Ontario, I watched a guy pull up outside a pharmacist. There was plenty of parking. Someone else came out of the store and headed for his car, which was right outside the door. The first motorist sat there in his car, waiting till the 2nd had gone, so he could reverse to the new vacant spot, even though he could have parked right next to it. It saved him c. 4 paces. I couldn't believe my eyes!
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>>Terry
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>Well believe them. I see this in mall parking lots all the time. People will drive up and down the rows, or sit in the middle of a row waiting for somebody to leave for 15 minutes in order to save 15 seconds of walking. Personally, I like to park were idiots are less likely to ding my car, so I generally have more of a walk to the entrances than most do.
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I used to work with a woman who lived for a time in an apartment across the street from the Old Orchard shopping mall, one of those crowded ones where people are perpetually cruising for parking spots. She said it gave her a smile every time she walked over to the mall. When she left the parking bandits would creep along behind her, ready to grab her spot. And then she kept on walking across the street.