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Group Writing: ‘Tis the Season, and the Clock Is Ticking
Tick. Tick. Tick.
I live in an apartment complex. It has great advantages. Something breaks? Call maintenance. Grass needs cutting? Someone else does it. There are pretty flowers on the grounds spring through autumn, and I never have to lift a finger to dig in the hard ground. (It would probably do me a lot of good to do it, but it’s not going to happen.) It’s nice to have things taken care of.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
But there can also be drawbacks. Sometimes the management decides to do maintenance at inconvenient times, like using a leaf-blower outside my window when I had rather be sleeping, or having to come in and check fire extinguishers and smoke alarms at eight in the morning.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
And then there is snow removal. There are rules around snow removal. I live in Michigan, and there will be snow. Some winters, there is a lot of snow. Others, not so much. But they need to clear the lots, and they come either in the night or during the day when most people are at work. They have a policy that you have to clean off and move your car within seventy-two hours of a snow.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
There are obvious reasons for this. They don’t want a parking lot full of giant marshmallows. They also don’t want anyone abandoning their cars when they move out, turning the place into a junkyard.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The problem is that I work from home. My wife runs most of the errands or drives when we’re going somewhere together. (This happens due to the who-can-bite-their-tongue policy. We have very different driving styles. If my wife does something I would not do while driving, I keep my mouth shut. On longer drives, I sleep so as not to have to watch her driving. When I drive and do something she wouldn’t do, she screams in my ear like a little girl on a rollercoaster for the first time. Through operant conditioning, she has trained me to let her drive.) I really don’t drive much. My car sits for long periods.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Now, I have an older vehicle. Sitting for long periods is not necessarily the best thing for cars. I should get it out more. But then I lose my favorite parking space. Besides, I really have nowhere to go most of the time. And then CoViD struck. Everyone is indoors more and driving less. I’m not sure the last time I drove. I used to go to church at least a couple of times per month, but now that we updated our phone system, I don’t have to go into the building to record Dial-a-Prayer messages. I can do it from right here in my big chair and through my computer. It’s great, but now I go nowhere.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It snowed a couple of days ago. It looks like the lot has been warm enough to melt, but my car still has snow piled up on it. I need to get out and clean it off before they come around and slap a sticker on it that threatens to tow it. Those stickers are a bear to get off.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
The one good thing about CoViD is the masks in winter. In previous years, another problem I had was lung issues with cold weather. If I went out to clean off the car, I would have an asthma attack. Unless I did something to protect my lungs, such as wrapping a scarf around my face very tightly or wearing a mask. I knew I needed the masks, but I’m vain enough to not want to wear the mask and look like an old geezer with breathing problems, even if I am one. But this year, everyone is wearing a mask. It’s required. And now I have a store of masks to wear.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
It won’t be seventy-two hours until tomorrow morning. Sometime later today, maybe around lunch, I’ll go out and clean off my car while wearing a mask, and then take it for a spin somewhere. I hope I get my space back.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Here in Michigan, ’tis the season. . .for snow.
Tick. Tick. Tick.
Have any of you ever lived with rules you didn’t necessarily like, even if you understood the basis for them?
Published in Group Writing
I, on the other hand, can step out my back door and fire off a pistol.
Arahant, you have deftly gotten out of driving. In the past year or so, Marie has become the primary driver of our car. I now have the habit of falling asleep at strange times. Just last night I fell asleep while eating soup and bumped the bowl with my forehead as I fell asleep. Now Marie is afraid I’ll fall asleep while driving. So she now drives us everywhere. I like that. I’ve been driving her around for over 50 years. Now it’s her turn.
Might want to get that checked. I had a friend who found that if he sat or stood still, his heart would stop or miss beats, and he would nod off. Wound up having a pace maker installed that would give him a jolt in those situations. Not saying that is your problem, but you might want to find out what your problem is.
Shoes. Didn’t like having to wear them to school.
Beer can pop-tops. The original kind that detached when you opened the beer.
No, never. A perfect life.
Oh, but the HOA has rules against happiness.
If you can’t step out back and take a pee with less bother than using the indoor toilet, you’re living too close to neighbors.
Speed limits. I understand the logic behind them but I rarely follow them. I drive at a speed I’m comfortable with. That might be 15 mph over the limit in light traffic. I never drive in a dangerous fashion. I wish cops would pull people over for that.
I’ve had rules I didn’t like, but I figured if I knew them going in I either had to follow them or make a change (getting out or getting rules changed). Know what I like even less than some rules, though? People who thrive on maintaining them, want to make sure you follow them and are happy to let someone know if/when you don’t. We had ways of dealing with legalist types in the girls dorm back in my day…
It was a nice, sunny day today, and the snow melted off my car. 😁
Wait long enough, and either the problem goes away, or it becomes someone else’s problem.
This conversation is part of our Group Writing Series under the December 2020 Group Writing Theme: “’Tis the Season.” Stop by soon, our schedule and sign-up sheet awaits.
Interested in Group Writing topics that came before? See the handy compendium of monthly themes. Check out links in the Group Writing Group. You can also join the group to get a notification when a new monthly theme is posted.