An American in Provence

Woke up this cold Thanksgiving morning, got dressed, went to my car (which I had parked illegally last night- hey, no choice sometimes). As I passed all the other illegally-parked cars, I got a bad feeling- each of them had a ticket tucked merrily under their windshield wiper.

Uh oh.... I guess the cops came by last night.

Got to my car- yeppers. Happy Thanksgiving!\

The most annoying thing is that I would LOVE to be able to buy a parking spot or garage but there JUST AREN'T ANY FOR SALE. Talk about supply and demand.

A parking spot can go for as much as 15,000 €, and a garage for twice that. Those that have them hang on to them like gold.

It is a strange feeling to have the money to buy something, but not be able to because there are none on the market.

So you have to expect a parking ticket every now and then.

Actually, it isn't too bad. In the two years we have lived here, we have only gotten about 5.

As long as I get less than three a month, it is worth it not to rent a parking spot, which is 100€ or more per month.

A few months ago we had an opportunity to rent a spot- back in February I had put our name on a waiting list for a nearby garage. Months went by and we hadn't heard anything, so we pretty much forgot about it until one day they called and said a spot was available if we wanted it. We hemmed and hawed for a weekend, and finally decided not to take it. It wasn't particularly close by and I am usually able to find a not-so illegal parking spot. I have classified parking spots into three categories:

1) an actual legal spot

2) an illegal spot (on the sidewalk, on a crosswalk, etc) that the cops will usually overlook unless they are looking to raise some cash for the city

3) totally illegal which will most likely get you towed- in front of a garage, double-parked etc.

I am usually able to find at least a Category 2 parking spot. It is strange because only a few streets over is a Category 3 area- almost all the cars are double parked. The owners usually leave a piece of paper on their dashboard with their phone number. Supposedly, if you are blocked in, you are supposed to call them and ask them to come move your car. Which is usually faster than calling a tow truck.

If we lived in a Category 3 area I would definitely have gone with the parking garage.

Alain has it somewhat easy, since he can put his motorcycle anywhere he wants. Of course, he is freezing cold in the winter and soaking wet when it rains, but hey, he wanted the motorcycle.

The city really needs to do something about the parking situation, yet when they come around for opinion polls, all the elderly people (who do not have cars and do everything by foot) vote against new parking garages, underground parking, etc.