It's Not About the Driving ...

... it's about the parking.

I promise that this will not become an All About My Car blog (too late, some might say, I hear you snickering in the background...), but I do need to say that it isn't always about the driving. Sometimes it is about the parking.

On Wednesday night, I headed out to the neighbourhood just south of Boa Viagem called Piedade. The occassion was a small reception at someone's apartment. Of course, my first challenge was to get there. After getting caught in a traffic jam due to (surprise surprise) an accident and then missing the building twice, thus necessitating huge Recife-style turn-arounds, I managed to locate my destination. However, my greater problem was where to park. The building was located on one of the neighbourhood's main drags and traffic whizzed along at quite a clip. There were no cars parked anywhere that I could see and the kerb on both sides were pitch black. Not wanting to do to yet another switchback, I decided to park the car kitty corner from my destination, even though there was not a soul to be seen. When I got to the entrance of the building, I discovered that my co-receptioners had either parked right on the sidewalk or had parked in one of the four parking spots allocated to the bakery across the street.

Unfortunately, I found myself spending most of the reception glancing out the window worrying about my car....