What’s so Funny ‘Bout Peace, Love, and Understanding?

Monday nights suck. For whatever reason (placement of hydrants, parking restrictions in front of private schools?), they’re the hardest night of the week to find a parking spot that’s legal for Tuesday. So, last night at 11:00, as I was circling the same batch of primo Upper East Side real estate that I’d been trawling for the past half an hour (you’d think all these super rich people could pay for a garage, dammit – with Dubya’s magnificent tax cuts, they surely can afford it!), I did something that I’m really ashamed of.

Long story short, as I was passing this giant SUV that clearly had stopped to back up into a parking spot (that wasn’t good for Tuesday, btw), I tooted my horn because he didn’t see my little Toyota and was beginning to back up – and the front end of his vehicle was starting to swing into mine. He hit his brakes and, as I looked over at him while driving by, he gave me the stink eye. So, in an embarrassing lapse of civility, I flipped him the bird. Blasting his horn in response, I’m sure he caught the “Teach Tolerance” bumper sticker on my back window as I sped away…

Oh, don’t tut-tut me too much -- he was probably a Bush-loving Republican. The message – and irony – would have been lost on him anyway.

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Soon, the alternate side of the street nightmare will be but a distant memory. We’re donating our car to Habitat for Humanity, and signing up with Zip Car, for when we need to escape from New York and head for the hills.