Parking Moron of the Day, April 29

Today's Moron was photographed a few days ago (April 27) in Dragodan.  I'll admit: there's nothing too egregious about this parking. It's just another case of planting a vehicle directly beneath a "no parking" sign.  But the funny thing here is that there were no other cars for a half a block around.  In other words: this car could have easily parked somewhere else RATHER THAN DIRECTLY BENEATH A SIGN TELLING HIM/HER NOT TO. For this alone, I grant EULEX license plate number 0162 our "Moron of the Day" Award.

Extra points awarded because this car was nowhere near one of Dragodan's many embassies. Instead, the driver had parked near one of Dragodan's fancy dining establishments. They weren't breaking the law on official business. They were just breaking the law over tapas and wine.

"But hey," you might be saying, "It sure do seem like a helluva lot of these Morons aint from around these parts. Why is it that these internationals are so much worse at parking than everyone else?"

Well, that's a great question. Really. But don't let my little sampling so far give you the wrong impression. Local people can be TERRIBLE at parking. But, in my unscientific survey, I've found that local people tend to break this rule in groups. One often comes across 30 cars with KS plates in a single no parking zone. But there's something about an official or semi-official license plate that gives drivers the confidence they need to break out of the pack and break the rules all by themselves, like today's moron.

Still, I'm not really interested in documenting only the parking infractions of the so-called international community. (They just make it so easy!) For at least a little while, I will try to focus a bit more on local parking techniques... See you soon.

Parking Moron of the Day, April 27, 2012

It's been a long time.

To tell the truth, I wasn't sure I wanted to keep this blog going. Documenting moronic parking in Kosovo is not a part-time job. There just aren't enough hours in the day.

And, to be fair, I had some things to do in Texas for a couple months. So I wasn't really in a position to take photos, and I had a lot of other things to do... and it seemed like this little blog might just die an early death. Sometimes that just happens.

Until I came on this little beauty.

I've been back in Pristina for a few days now, and I'd seen some bad bad parking. So it took this piece of work to really capture my imagination, make me shake my head, and pull the camera out of the ol' backpack.

For those readers not literate in Euro signage, the sign in the foreground means "no parking." It is relatively universal in Europe, and cannot mean anything else. But our little friend here hasn't just ignored the sign: they've gone the extra step to wedge themselves between the garbage containers and the fence, on the sidewalk, in a place that clearly never was and never in any way will be a parking spot. This kind of rule-breaking takes work and chutzpah.

For those readers not literate in Kosovo license plates, the "E" in this "EU" plate stands for the grotesquely enlarged sense of ENTITLEMENT that some people have here. Entitled to break some rules while complaining about other rule-breakers a heartbeat later. Entitled to take whatever they want whenever they want it, no matter who or what might be in their way. Entitled to do things they would never think of doing in their home countries.

At least, that's what I assume the "E" stands for.

Yes, I'm still here, and it's still the little things that piss me off.