Parallel Parking

            I had dinner with my sister the other night. We ate at a Szechuan restaurant in Alhambra. The food was great, but there's always a wait for a table. The restaurant had chairs set up outside on the sidewalk as a courtesy. My sister and I sat and read the menu while we waited.
            A car pulled up to parallel park at the curb in front of us. There was nothing else to do but watch as they backed their car in. There were probably a half dozen of us watching this poor guy try to park. He was off kilter to begin with and it got progressively worse from there. He must have pulled up and backed in twenty times before he got it right. My sister and I looked at each other and shook our heads. It was hard to watch.
            About ten minutes later another car pulled up and tried to parallel park. It looked strikingly similar to the first car. I found myself getting mildly agitated as I watched one bad decision after another. I noticed the people sitting next to me were frustrated too. I heard them say, "no! Turn the wheel the other way!" To see people fail over and over again was interesting to me. Watching their wheels turn one way and then the other, as they pulled forward and backed up, stopping to make proximity calculations, pulling into traffic, backing out of traffic, only to realize they had repeated the same mistake. The drivers were Chinese. Nothing racist here, it's just an observation. (My editor still thinks it's racist).
            My sister and I shook our heads and laughed. A third car pulled up a few minutes later. We patrons sitting on the sidewalk let out a uniform groan. Oh no. 

Eldorado

          Someday I'm going to own a nineteen seventy-two black Cadillac Eldorado, and float to my destination of choice. Of course I won't drive the Caddy unless I know for sure that there's a parking lot nearby, or an abundance of street parking. That's going to be my first question, "how's the parking?"  I'll have to avoid some neighborhoods completely: parts of Korea town, mid-Wilshire, Beachwood Canyon. And then there's the gas problem. How much will it cost to get there? I figure it will be five bucks just to get her warmed up. Thirty bucks for a round tripper no problem. I know it's an impractical idea, but in my mind it's a great idea. 
          The best part of owning the Eldorado will be watching the faces of the valets as they drive off in search of a good place to park.