Lesson Learned

There's a saying that says if you learn something new every day, then you live a good life. (Wait, there isn't a saying that says that? Well fancy that, I've just learned something else.) Well, for as long as I can remember, I've disliked the parking lot at the Landmark Kendall Square movie theater, especially in the winter, when not only do you have to stand in line in the cold to pay nearly $5 for parking, but then you have to roll down your car window on the way out to insert your ticket into a machine so the gate will go up. It's annoying. I know, it's a pretty silly reason not to like the garage, but the bigger issue, I suppose, is that, given the location, driving to the theater is, like, your only option for getting there. So I don't appreciate having to pay so much for parking, especially when there are cheaper options available in the neighborhood.

For many years now, when I've gone to the Landmark, I've parked on a side street a block or two away from the theater (I believe it's Fulkerson St.). When there was construction on the street, there used to be free parking there, but now there are meters. Given the street's reasonably out of the way location, I've had good luck and haven't received any tickets when I didn't feed my meter enough. So Saturday, when I arrived to see the 5 p.m. screening of Revolutionary Road with Nina and I didn't have any change in my pocket to feed the meter (which had already expired), I figured I'd be alright. After all, no policefolk are going to be patrolling that random street during the 5:00 hour on a Saturday afternoon, right? Wrong. When I got back to my car after 8 p.m. (we had dinner after the movie), I had a ticket waiting for me that had a timestamp of 5:43 on it. The amount? $25. It was then that Nina told me about the new Cambridge police department headquarters, located a block away from where I had parked, which was due to open this month. d'OH! I guess you could say karma finally caught up to me. Suffice it to say, I won't be making that mistake again. Next time, the meter will be fed and I'll be a more responsible parker.