Providence Skyline at Night
Me Calling the Number on the Sign that Said:
I Guess they mean it...
We decided
to take a break from eating left overs and drove into Providence last night to
see the movie Dallas Buyers Club with
Matthew McConaughey at our favorite theater the Avon (www.avoncinema.com) which is located on
Thayer Street street on the East side. Anyone who is familiar with the area
knows that it has great restaurants large and small along with a number of
shops that cater for the most part to the college crowd in Providence. This
always makes parking a bit dicey so we parked in our favorite not well known
about parking lot a few blocks away. The one with the signs that stated if you
park here we will tow you. We knew the signs were just a threat because we had
parked there for years and the lot was always full and no one was ever towed.
I guess
things have changed. When we arrived at the lot, it was apparent that new brighter
lights had been installed and the lot was empty except for one car. So I parked
right under one of the lights thinking this is a great spot. As we’re walking
away congratulating ourselves about how smart we were to find this off the
beaten path parking spot, we figured the lot was empty because everyone was
home for Thanksgiving. If only.
Walking back
after the movie, which I enjoyed (9 out of 10), we yakked about the movie and
what we liked and didn’t like. The night air was 28 degrees and cold enough to
make you shiver. Well me mostly because I wore a light jacket unlike my much
smarter better half who was dressed for the cold. As we rounded the corner to
our parking spot I was thinking how nice and bright the parking lot is now with
the new… “hey, where’s my car?” It was gone the lot was empty. And it isn’t big
like the lots at Disney so I knew I didn’t go to the wrong spot. Crap. It was
towed. And right on that new light pole where my car used to be was a sign that
basically said, “If you park here…” The sign I never saw and probably would
have ignored anyways.
So we called
the number on the sign that they were nice enough to leave and were given
walking directions to the car jail and “Oh by the way, you’ll need $138 to bail
it out. Cash only.” How convenient. I was in the bank parking lot where there
was an ATM. They planned this well I thought.
So we set
off in the direction of the tow company which was fortunately a little over a
mile away. Me in my light coat. My better half in her nice warm coat. I did my
best to laugh about it given there wasn’t much else that I could do. We walked
down the streets and across a dark interchange and park which is under
construction with the walkway guided only by some plastic netting to keep the
drunks from falling in the mud. And over the river like the Goldilocks absent
the woods. It was here that my humor went down a bit. The wind was whipping up
the river. It was cold. I had a on a light jacket. My car was waiting for me to
dig deeply into my wallet to bail it out. In the middle of the bridge my better
half stopped and said “Let’s stand here and admire how pretty the Providence skyline
is at night. When will we ever get to do this again?” I’m like “Really?” Yup, really.
“Really?” “Uh huh.” So we did. I must be going to heaven.
After walking
some more and bailing out my car later, I just laughed. It was an expensive
night. But I had good company, we saw a good movie had a nice walk and got to
admire the Providence skyline at night. What could be better?
Enjoy your
weekend.
