when differences finally rear their ugly heads to bite

Sometimes it is possible to live in another country for a number of years without *noticing* certain differences. The clues were there; I failed to process them properly, and now will need to pay the price.

Prior to moving to Australia I’ve lived in places where there were three categories of city streets: 1) major roads, with multiple lanes of traffic, each clearly indicated with lane markings, with no on-street parking permitted at any time 2) major roads with multiple lanes of traffic, each clearly marked with lane markings, with an extra, dedicated, bit for on-street parking (said parking strip generally has a concrete barrier at each end to clearly communicate to drivers that while one may park a car there, it is not a traffic lane) and 3) smaller side-roads which consist of one lane of traffic each way, and sufficient extra width to park cars on the edges of the road, but no lane markings of any kind—if there are no lane markings it is implied that there is a single lane each way (unless, of course, it is a one-way street).

Since moving to Australia I have often complained about the manner in which some of the major city streets have cars parked in what is clearly marked as a lane of traffic. It can be somewhat frustrating to be driving along in a clearly marked lane, and suddenly be behind a parked car and need to wait for a break in traffic in the second lane before being able to change lanes and commence moving again, and as a result, I often thought that the way I’d seen it done elsewhere, where either there was no on-street parking at all, or there was a dedicated lane for it was “better” than what is done here.

During this time I had noticed that the streets with cars parked in a lane of traffic tended to not have cars parked there in the evenings, but I had assumed that was because the local businesses were closed and people didn’t need to park there then. I just ascribed it to factors of “supply and demand” in terms of when people needed to park; it didn’t occur to me that the times parking (or “stopping”) is or isn’t permitted might be regulated. Every other place I’ve ever lived has “no parking” signs which apply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—they have distinctive shapes and bold colours. I didn’t notice that the local “no stopping” signs are the same shape as the “park here” signs, have less contrast than the “park here signs, and have fine print times written on them. Nothing in my world hitherto lead me to expect that such a thing would happen, so I didn’t look for it. This was a mistake. How many mistakes do we make because our previous experiences don’t lead us to expect the new situation? Probably most of them, really.

While I had noticed, and complained about the people parking on the major streets, I hadn’t realized that there is also a corollary here—the side streets in the city which look to me like they should have room for only a single lane of traffic—they have on-street parking and no lane markings of any kind—are actually meant to be two lanes in each direction during “peak traffic” times. I didn’t know this. Why didn’t I know this? Because A) it is not like anything I’d seen before, and B) I’ve never been driving in the city centre during “peak traffic” times.

I don’t get out much—the advantage of working from home means that petrol has not been one of our major expenses. When my favourite food store had to close their branch over near the uni due to the new property owner raising the rents I, reluctantly, begun making the trip into the city centre to their only other branch to buy my grains, nuts, dried fruit, etc. in bulk. I soon learned that while there is no parking lot anywhere near that branch, and the parking spaces right near the store are marked “1/4 hour parking” that Gouldburn street, a minor side-street with no lane markings, had on-street parking clearly labelled “2 hour parking”, so I developed a habit of parking there and walking the block to block and a half to the store. The store is only open till 6:30 pm during the week, and not open on Sundays at all, so it has been my habit to put off going till I really need to (I’m just about out of my mix-it-myself muesli) and then I stock up on lots and lots at once.

Before yesterday I’d tend to go around mid-day. I’d head to uni in the morning, meet with my advisor, and then head to the store before returning home and getting back to work. Yesterday they’d advertised a department seminar for 4 pm, and the speaker was speaking on her work at an ore deposit in Alaska. Knowing that there would likely be pretty pictures of mountains, plants in the *right* shade of green (to my eye), and wildlife, I decided I’d like to attend. clovis_t had some things he wanted to do in town as well, and we had our regular swing dance class scheduled for 8pm. So I suggested that we go in early, he get a ride with the friend we go dancing with to his afternoon activities, I work at uni for a bit, attend seminar, swing by the store and stock up, and then meet them in North Hobart for a restaurant meal before dancing. This plan met with general approval, and we made it so. (Yes, there were lovely photos of Alaskan mountains, with plants the correct shade of green and gratuitous wildlife shots in addition to the science portion of the talk.)

So after the talk I wended my way into town, parked where I normally do, and went to the store, where I filled two mesh bags with yummy food stuffs before returning to the car. By the time I got back to the car traffic was kind of heavy, but I didn’t really notice, just got in the car, and took a moment to put the tofu into the ice chest. While I was doing that I vaguely heard some horns honking, and thought it odd, but didn’t think anything of it. Once I got things put away and my seat belt on I looked in the mirror and realized that the horn was a woman in a car behind me, who looked annoyed that I was in her way. I was confused as to why she’d be behind a parked car and not in the lane of traffic, but since there didn’t happen to be any cars in front of me, and a turn lane ahead, I pulled forward (feeling *wrong* to be driving in what is meant to be parking and not a lane, I might add) and went on my way. I almost forgot about it, but during dinner I mentioned the oddness of someone getting behind a parked car and honking and clovis_t commented that I must have been in a “no stopping” zone, to which I replied, no, it is a 2 hour parking zone—I’ve parked there many times before and know the sign, and our friend commented that she often has problems noticing the no stopping signs and the fine print too, and I was really confused as to what she meant, I know that the sign said “2 hour parking”, that is what it has always said, and I looked at it today when I parked, to be certain that it still said what I remembered it saying.

When we got back to the car clovis_t noticed a parking ticket on the car and handed it to me; at first I thought I had a ticket for where it was parked at that moment (where the sign said “1/4 hour parking till 6pm”—I’d parked there at 5:50, so thought it would be fine), but as it turns out, where the car was when he found the ticket (on the passenger side of the car) was fine, the ticket was for ignoring a “no stopping” sign on Goldburn street. Needless to say, this rather upset me—I am compulsive about working within laws and rules, and go out of my way to follow all rules all of the time. It is also rather painful to get an $80 fine when we have no income. Sure, we’ve got the cash to pay it, but with no income that means that much less time that our savings will last. On our way home clovis_t and I did check, and, sure enough, there are two signs on that post—one at a convenient height to see from our tiny car in very easy to read contrasting dark green on white which says “2 hour parking” and lists the times of day in which one must limit one’s time to only two hours (I’ve lived many places with that sort of sign—any time which isn’t included in that limit is fair game for parking as long as you want), and a second sign, on top of the first, which is written in a much less of a contrast red on white which has the “no stoping” symbol (an S with a slash through it) and a range of times which correspond with the peak traffic times of day.

After looking at it, I recall how once or twice early on in my time Australia, when I was a passenger in the car, but after I’d read the local “rules of the road” book in preparation for obtaining my local licence, we’d go to park somewhere in town next to one of those signs and I’d commented “isn’t that a no stopping sign?” and was told “that doesn’t apply—see the green 2 hour park sign?”. On those early occasions I saw the signs in only a glimpse as we pulled into the parking spot, with not enough time to read any of the fine print, and I didn’t go read the signs closely when we got out of the car, just accepted the “it doesn’t apply” comment, and my brain moved the “no stoping” portions of the signs into the “not relevant, don’t notice” category, without my having taken the time to ask *why* it wasn’t relevant. Silly me, if I had asked “why”, I would have been told just how different things are here—that some times of the day people drive in parking areas, as well as their habit of parking in driving areas. If I had had *that* bit of information in the conscious part of my brain, I would need to pay this parking fine. Sigh.

when differences finally rear their ugly heads to bite

Sometimes it is possible to live in another country for a number of years without *noticing* certain differences. The clues were there; I failed to process them properly, and now will need to pay the price.

Prior to moving to Australia I’ve lived in places where there were three categories of city streets: 1) major roads, with multiple lanes of traffic, each clearly indicated with lane markings, with no on-street parking permitted at any time 2) major roads with multiple lanes of traffic, each clearly marked with lane markings, with an extra, dedicated, bit for on-street parking (said parking strip generally has a concrete barrier at each end to clearly communicate to drivers that while one may park a car there, it is not a traffic lane) and 3) smaller side-roads which consist of one lane of traffic each way, and sufficient extra width to park cars on the edges of the road, but no lane markings of any kind—if there are no lane markings it is implied that there is a single lane each way (unless, of course, it is a one-way street).

Since moving to Australia I have often complained about the manner in which some of the major city streets have cars parked in what is clearly marked as a lane of traffic. It can be somewhat frustrating to be driving along in a clearly marked lane, and suddenly be behind a parked car and need to wait for a break in traffic in the second lane before being able to change lanes and commence moving again, and as a result, I often thought that the way I’d seen it done elsewhere, where either there was no on-street parking at all, or there was a dedicated lane for it was “better” than what is done here.

During this time I had noticed that the streets with cars parked in a lane of traffic tended to not have cars parked there in the evenings, but I had assumed that was because the local businesses were closed and people didn’t need to park there then. I just ascribed it to factors of “supply and demand” in terms of when people needed to park; it didn’t occur to me that the times parking (or “stopping”) is or isn’t permitted might be regulated. Every other place I’ve ever lived has “no parking” signs which apply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week—they have distinctive shapes and bold colours. I didn’t notice that the local “no stopping” signs are the same shape as the “park here” signs, have less contrast than the “park here signs, and have fine print times written on them. Nothing in my world hitherto lead me to expect that such a thing would happen, so I didn’t look for it. This was a mistake. How many mistakes do we make because our previous experiences don’t lead us to expect the new situation? Probably most of them, really.

While I had noticed, and complained about the people parking on the major streets, I hadn’t realized that there is also a corollary here—the side streets in the city which look to me like they should have room for only a single lane of traffic—they have on-street parking and no lane markings of any kind—are actually meant to be two lanes in each direction during “peak traffic” times. I didn’t know this. Why didn’t I know this? Because A) it is not like anything I’d seen before, and B) I’ve never been driving in the city centre during “peak traffic” times.

I don’t get out much—the advantage of working from home means that petrol has not been one of our major expenses. When my favourite food store had to close their branch over near the uni due to the new property owner raising the rents I, reluctantly, begun making the trip into the city centre to their only other branch to buy my grains, nuts, dried fruit, etc. in bulk. I soon learned that while there is no parking lot anywhere near that branch, and the parking spaces right near the store are marked “1/4 hour parking” that Gouldburn street, a minor side-street with no lane markings, had on-street parking clearly labelled “2 hour parking”, so I developed a habit of parking there and walking the block to block and a half to the store. The store is only open till 6:30 pm during the week, and not open on Sundays at all, so it has been my habit to put off going till I really need to (I’m just about out of my mix-it-myself muesli) and then I stock up on lots and lots at once.

Before yesterday I’d tend to go around mid-day. I’d head to uni in the morning, meet with my advisor, and then head to the store before returning home and getting back to work. Yesterday they’d advertised a department seminar for 4 pm, and the speaker was speaking on her work at an ore deposit in Alaska. Knowing that there would likely be pretty pictures of mountains, plants in the *right* shade of green (to my eye), and wildlife, I decided I’d like to attend. clovis_t had some things he wanted to do in town as well, and we had our regular swing dance class scheduled for 8pm. So I suggested that we go in early, he get a ride with the friend we go dancing with to his afternoon activities, I work at uni for a bit, attend seminar, swing by the store and stock up, and then meet them in North Hobart for a restaurant meal before dancing. This plan met with general approval, and we made it so. (Yes, there were lovely photos of Alaskan mountains, with plants the correct shade of green and gratuitous wildlife shots in addition to the science portion of the talk.)

So after the talk I wended my way into town, parked where I normally do, and went to the store, where I filled two mesh bags with yummy food stuffs before returning to the car. By the time I got back to the car traffic was kind of heavy, but I didn’t really notice, just got in the car, and took a moment to put the tofu into the ice chest. While I was doing that I vaguely heard some horns honking, and thought it odd, but didn’t think anything of it. Once I got things put away and my seat belt on I looked in the mirror and realized that the horn was a woman in a car behind me, who looked annoyed that I was in her way. I was confused as to why she’d be behind a parked car and not in the lane of traffic, but since there didn’t happen to be any cars in front of me, and a turn lane ahead, I pulled forward (feeling *wrong* to be driving in what is meant to be parking and not a lane, I might add) and went on my way. I almost forgot about it, but during dinner I mentioned the oddness of someone getting behind a parked car and honking and clovis_t commented that I must have been in a “no stopping” zone, to which I replied, no, it is a 2 hour parking zone—I’ve parked there many times before and know the sign, and our friend commented that she often has problems noticing the no stopping signs and the fine print too, and I was really confused as to what she meant, I know that the sign said “2 hour parking”, that is what it has always said, and I looked at it today when I parked, to be certain that it still said what I remembered it saying.

When we got back to the car clovis_t noticed a parking ticket on the car and handed it to me; at first I thought I had a ticket for where it was parked at that moment (where the sign said “1/4 hour parking till 6pm”—I’d parked there at 5:50, so thought it would be fine), but as it turns out, where the car was when he found the ticket (on the passenger side of the car) was fine, the ticket was for ignoring a “no stopping” sign on Goldburn street. Needless to say, this rather upset me—I am compulsive about working within laws and rules, and go out of my way to follow all rules all of the time. It is also rather painful to get an $80 fine when we have no income. Sure, we’ve got the cash to pay it, but with no income that means that much less time that our savings will last. On our way home clovis_t and I did check, and, sure enough, there are two signs on that post—one at a convenient height to see from our tiny car in very easy to read contrasting dark green on white which says “2 hour parking” and lists the times of day in which one must limit one’s time to only two hours (I’ve lived many places with that sort of sign—any time which isn’t included in that limit is fair game for parking as long as you want), and a second sign, on top of the first, which is written in a much less of a contrast red on white which has the “no stoping” symbol (an S with a slash through it) and a range of times which correspond with the peak traffic times of day.

After looking at it, I recall how once or twice early on in my time Australia, when I was a passenger in the car, but after I’d read the local “rules of the road” book in preparation for obtaining my local licence, we’d go to park somewhere in town next to one of those signs and I’d commented “isn’t that a no stopping sign?” and was told “that doesn’t apply—see the green 2 hour park sign?”. On those early occasions I saw the signs in only a glimpse as we pulled into the parking spot, with not enough time to read any of the fine print, and I didn’t go read the signs closely when we got out of the car, just accepted the “it doesn’t apply” comment, and my brain moved the “no stoping” portions of the signs into the “not relevant, don’t notice” category, without my having taken the time to ask *why* it wasn’t relevant. Silly me, if I had asked “why”, I would have been told just how different things are here—that some times of the day people drive in parking areas, as well as their habit of parking in driving areas. If I had had *that* bit of information in the conscious part of my brain, I would need to pay this parking fine. Sigh.

today's progress report is located

in my other blog. It just seemed right to put this one there.

today's progress report is located

in my other blog. It just seemed right to put this one there.