The $35, $112 and $0 parking space

February 14, 2009

I have space luck. That’s right, while most of you wander around with Keno luck or luck in love or even luck in ordering the perfect meal at restaurants, I have space luck.

Regardless of where there’s an event, I’ve been blessed with the ability to find a parking space.

Sometimes I stack the deck in my favor by spending extra time circling the block or I arrive earlier than normal for a scheduled event…but I am often rewarded with rockstar parking. Until yesterday.

On Friday the 13th I was stymied by the parking gods. Let’s dash back a day to Thursday to set up the scene.

Thursday, February 12. Lincoln’s birthday. Darwin’s birthday. Twestival Boston. Ignite Boston. A rampant night of Boston entertainment.

Based on my parking juju I landed the parking spot right in front of Hennessey’s Hooley House – site of Ignite Boston 5. Granted, I arrived a little early, but even with that move I was able to keep my spot for more than five hours without getting a ticket or even a scolding from a meter maid.

Across town, CMajor got rockstar parking in front of OM in Harvard Square.

Let’s compare. My spot cost me about $0. Her spot cost her about $112. How’s that?

Well, she got towed. But I surmise that she got towed because of the Friday the 13th energy. That’s right.

A similar situation faced me yesterday on the 13th when I was looking for parking near Park Street and Downtown Crossing in Boston. Not a spot to be had. Construction everywhere. Meters taken for hours, so I parked in a garage.

$35 later – and a mere 75 minutes later – I extracted my car from said garage and wept openly at the price I had to pay.

Is it too much to make all parking free? Or is there a way I can get into this racket where you can rent out a slab of concrete for $18 an hour?

What this post is really driving at is whether focusing on parking is really important or if we should all just suck it up and pay more attention to the things that matter. Like relationships, food, travel and time with others.

I’m still going to flaunt my parking prowess, but may see if I can transfer some of that space luck into lottery luck. Then I’ll be able to afford the spaces that come with a $35 or $112 bill.

More to come…