Even in lousy weather I like to park in the far reaches of a parking lot, especially if I’m going to a big store with a big parking lot. For one thing I need the exercise and I always enjoy a good walk, and unless it’s absolutely pouring the rain isn’t going to hurt me. Even if it is absolutely pouring the rain still isn’t going to hurt me—it’s only going to hurt if it’s really large hail, and if it’s doing that I’m hopefully not out driving around anyway. I also like to park far away from other cars because we have a blue Honda CRV and there are a lot of those on the road. It’s reassuring, really, that they’re so popular. Our neighbors saw ours and liked it so much they got one too. Theirs is a slightly different shade of blue but still in crowded parking lots there have been so many times when I’ve walked up to a blue Honda and taken out my key, only to look in and say, “I don’t remember having Kermit the Frog in the passenger seat.” Granted that hasn’t happened that often but it has happened enough times that I’ve wondered what confluence of events causes the person whose copilot is Kermit to show up at some of the same places as me.
Anyway the third reason I like parking far away from other cars is that even though the Honda is a pretty good size there are a lot of cars, and a lot of trucks, that are much bigger, and parking spaces aren’t always big enough for them to open their doors without hitting my car. Or they have a small car but still didn’t park far enough over and bashed my car while they were getting out. Or back in. Or both. It hasn’t happened often but the Honda has a few scratches and dents in the side that remain a mystery because I’ve come back to find the spaces on either side empty, although once there were some pretty dramatic skid marks on the asphalt that I’m sure weren’t there when I went in. Parking far away from other cars just minimizes the risk of damage.
When I saw that white car in the parking lot my first thought was, well, there’s someone who had the same idea. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for them. Looking at it more closely now I see there’s a lot more going on. Something terrible happened to that front tire and it caused a lot of collateral damage. I’m glad they were able to get it parked before anything worse happened, and that they were able to park far enough from other cars that the tow truck could get to them easily.
Imagine coming out and finding your vehicle looking like that?! I always park in any spot where there’s a pull through, no matter how far away it is–I hate backing up!
If I can I pull through too, but I really like that all vehicles–all recent vehicles, anyway, now have a back-up camera. The back-up camera on the Ford rental while our car was in the shop was actually higher quality. Pretty much the only thing that vehicle had that was good.
I’m always glad to park myself here because I know nothing here is going to hurt me, even though I have empathy for damage of any kind.
I never did see the drivers of that other car or I would have been happy to offer them some help. I hope they were able to get their car repaired without too much trouble.