In a moment of remarkable idiocy, I forgot to put money in the parking meter before I went into the dentist’s office yesterday. I don’t know what caused this mental lapse; I made sure that I had change for the meter before I left the house, and I looked right at the meters as I parked. Duh.
Sure enough, upon my return I had a ticket. This is only the second parking ticket I’ve ever gotten, and the sheer stupidity of my oversight made it almost more amusing than annoying. (The first time I got a ticket happened when I returned to Boulder after living in Monument for about 18 months and a parking lot that had previously been free had changed to permit-only during my absence. The only indication of the change was a small, almost inconspicuous sign at the entrance, and a notable availability of parking slots at midday.)
The interesting part is that the City of Boulder, high-tech community that it is, now provides a website for paying your tickets online with a credit card. Considering that two things which Tracie has mailed recently mysteriously vanished before reaching their destinations, I feel much better about having just paid my ticket online and getting an immediate confirmation than I would if I were to put a check in the mail. (Actually the mail, in Paper Jade’s rather extensive experience, is extremely reliable. Hopefully it’s just an odd coincidence that two rather important letters have gone astray within a short period of time.)
