{"id":972,"date":"2013-07-15T18:02:38","date_gmt":"2013-07-15T18:02:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/illumination2.wordpress.com\/?p=972"},"modified":"2013-07-15T18:02:38","modified_gmt":"2013-07-15T18:02:38","slug":"too-close-for-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/too-close-for-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"Too close for comfort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Too close for comfort<\/strong><\/p>\n

I drive a Highlander. I came out to the car park today to find some sort of cross-over utility vehicle (CUV) (or maybe a Previa) parked so close to my car I couldn’t even open the door to get in. My car was next to the gate house so on that side I had left a gap of about 3 inches so I couldn’t get in either from the passenger side.
\nAfter asking around and talking to the security guards, it was obvious I either wait indefinitely or find an alternative means of gaining entry into the car. Though I was parked quite close to the fence, there was just enough room to open the boot partially just about enough for me to get in.
\nBut before I did that, I got a business card from my bag and scribbled something on the back:
\n“Hi, please park properly next time.
\nHave a great evening.
\nI had to get into my car through the boot!!! \ud83d\ude42
\nRegards.”<\/p>\n

I included the smiley-face in order to “soften” the tone of the message. For some reason, the ridiculousness\u00a0of the situation itself helped me to remain calm. There I was with the key in my hand and not able to leave.
\nWhich brings me to that well-known expression about you being in control of how you react in all situations. Of course it is not always so easy to keep a level-head. For some reason I just didn’t really get worked up, and by the time I finished the calisthenics\u00a0required to get from the boot to the middle-row seats all the way to the driver’s seat (I had to take off my shoes to easily maneuver in the confined space), I was gently smiling at myself.<\/p>\n

The car was so close I had to fold-in my driver’s side mirror otherwise I would have knocked off his own passenger’s side mirror. The fact that the mirror was almost off its hinges gave an inkling into the sort of driver he\/she was. Not only that, he had also angled his front wheel towards my car thereby taking even more space. Literally\u00a0too close for comfort! I had to carefully inch the car out of the tight spot (the gatehouse on one side and his front wheel on the other – between the devil and the deep blue sea :-).<\/p>\n

Shortly after I got home, I got a call from an unknown number.
\n“Hello Mr Itayemi. This is Mr Adeyemi. I got your message. I am sorry. The slot was so tight I almost couldn’t get out of my car.”
\nI laughed a little. “Well, Ok.”
\n“I am keeping your card all the same.”
\n“That’s OK. Have a great evening.”
\n“Bye sir.”<\/p>\n

Of course I could have thrown a tantrum at the car park; I could have “helped” him by pulling off his partially broken side-mirror; “keyed” his car; kicked a dent in his fender (and possibly break a toe); I could have cursed him and his lineage; I could have ranted till I lost my breath\u00a0and became red in the face with sweat trickling down my back; or a few other things. I would have accomplished nothing.<\/p>\n

But here I am writing this with a smile on my face. Possibly gained a “friendly” acquaintance as well (of course we may never ever meet again, but what does it matter). A reasonably good end to a work day.<\/p>\n

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *<\/p>\n

Now what were we talking about before? Ah yes, that lovely BBM\u00a0contact\u00a0who promised to send me “digitized\u00a0fried-rice yesterday evening” \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Too close for comfort I drive a Highlander. I came out to the car park today to find some sort of cross-over utility vehicle (CUV) (or maybe a Previa) parked so close to my car I couldn’t even open the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":336,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[38,65,109,397,474,528,597,654,911,978],"class_list":["post-972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-adeyemi","tag-angry","tag-bbm","tag-friedrice","tag-highlander","tag-itayemi","tag-lineage","tag-mirror","tag-smiley","tag-tantrum"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/336"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/972\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.itayemi.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}