PARKING MY HUMVEE OFF EUCLID AVENUE

Several times a week I drive from my home to the Kroger on Euclid. Other than having to navigate this city's worse intersection, Euclid-Fontaine-High, the drive is usually uneventful.

Parking is not.

Now, admittedly, this old fabric store was never designed to be a Kroger's..and plans are under study to improve the store and its parking. The staff there could not be more helpful, but some things are beyond its control.

One is other drivers; one is American cars.

As to drivers...folks yellow lines do not designate your personal parking space. For you pleading color blindness, those are the lines right under the signs that say "No Parking, Fire Lane." (This includes the delivery trucks who don't have an exemption from obeying traffic laws!) And while parking spaces are small. please try to hit the center of these spaces, not straddle the white lines. And, yes, backing into spaces is not only UNnecessary, it usually holds up people trying to get in or out. You may think there are a lot of vacant spaces, but parking your pickup and its load of mowing machines ACROSS  the spaces (taking up 4 or more) is not cricket. Please, if you don't have the required permit, showing, do not park in the handicapped spaces--unless yours is mental, not physical.

As to cars, and full disclosure requires me to say I drive a 19 year old large station wagon, once a monster, now a pgymy compared to the SUV's and trucks of today. One hopes  this ridiculous trend will reverse, but even if it doesn't one thing can be changed--those over-sized, outside rear view mirrors. You can't get your shopping cart between them when two of these "armadas" are parked side-by-side; sometimes you can't even walk between them if they are badly parked.

Now, such mirrors are needed safety features, but in Europe many of these mirrors fold up when the motor shuts off, reopening when the car starts up. Yes, there ought to be a law requiring American cars to have such a feature, which BTW, can save those expensive gadgets from being hit and needing repairs.

For both cars and drivers, there are such features as turn signals. They still work in parking lots! They can be most helpful if used there to indicate which way you plan to turn inside the lot, or coming out. I admire those vehicles with turn arrows on their outside mirrors, and those older cars whose turn signs activated several lights in front or back, that  motion an additional reminder of which way the turn was coming. Detroit's designs are often unsafe, with small, one light signals in front, right besides, and lost in the glare of the larger day running lights.

Still, it's the person behind the wheel we need to thank most for coping with these problems, and attention to safe driving can overcome many of these other issues. Til Kroger Euclid gets the green light to upgrade, please be such a safe driver. I'll try to do my part--I really don't want to repaint the old wagon Desert Storm green and gray & sand colors.

I'm just sayin'...