Paying for my stubbornness, in a sense...

So, here in Chicago, we have this thing that many of you may not know about. Go here to read about it: http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2008/02/dibs----myth-vs.html

It's quite "controversial," in the sense of, people get beaten up over this, tires get slashed, cars get keyed, etc. I'm not kidding. It's serious stuff. If there's one thing you learn growing up as a Chicagoan, it's to not mess with someone's parking spot chairs in the winter.

Anyway, I personally don't REQUIRE parking directly in front of my house. I'm not so lazy I can't walk a couple houses over to get to/from my car. Helping the situation is that, really, at my end of the block, parking isn't bad at all. The only reason I'd want to park in front and have found it important lately is that, well, Gina's pregnant. However, even amidst the snowstorms this year, I've not put chairs or anything out (partially, too, because I really don't have "junk" I can put out there).

By the same token, I haven't dug out my spot either. I've just rolled my Equinox in and out of the spot -- compacting the snow and ice and creating some nice ruts to drive through.

Well, as I type this, I'm in pain. Today, I paid for not shoveling out some of the snow ahead of time. We had rains and rains and melting snow today, which created all sorts of standing water all up and down the street. Now, we weren't in danger of flooding the house, but all the standing water on the sidewalk makes for precarious walking. And with the temps about to plunge again, I didn't want all that ice on the walks.

So, I went and got my trusty metal garden spade and went at the solid, compacted ice in the street along the curb in order to create a channel about 40 feet long from my sidewalk to the street all the way down to the nearest sewer. I was out there chopping and shoveling away at the ice for probably a good 30-45 minutes. I accomplished my task, but realized that my hands and fingers had kind of seized up because of all the reverb, repetitive motion and being kept tightly in the same grip the entire time. Once I loosened them up a bit, it was better. But now, they're sore, even typing out this long message.

Parking "dibs" is interesting...and it's really a hit-or-miss proposition...on my block, for example, there aren't many folks who do it...yet, anyway. But you could go over a block and find everyone doing it, or no one. It's really a block-to-block thing.

Personally, I probably won't put anything out in the street, at least not at this time. Like I said, parking's still not bad, and people actually shovel their sidewalks here too, so you don't have to trudge through snow and ice to get to your car if it's a few doors down. And I don't mind if people put stuff out in front of their houses either. That's cool. But, I think next time, I'll try to shovel out a little bit of the street, to prevent my hands from being jackhammered once the ice is compacted and immovable. It'll save me some time, effort and hand-ache later.