It's time for a rant!

I don't normally do blog rants, but oh I've got to let this out....

I was raised by a father who is hyper-sensitive about being considerate to others. I think if there is one characteristics all of us Zimmerman children have is the understanding that you shouldn't do stupid things that cause inconvenience, annoyance or trouble to others. While I know not everyone was raised with this concept deeply ingrained in them, there is a reasonable amount of respect for others that everyone should have.

Explanation of our driveway (I promise it's relevant)-behind our house there is a long narrow driveway. It widens to fit two cars at the end which is perfect for us since our duplex neighbors don't have a car. The next door neighbors driveway is a long also but it's only single car wide all the way down. They generally have three cars pulled into it, so it's pretty much filled front to back. Our side only has the two cars at the end, so this leaves the rest of our driveway open for getting out.

Let's rewind to yesterday morning at 8:40am....I was nearly ready to head off to work when I looked out the window and noticed that there was a Mini Cooper parked smack dab in the middle of our driveway. Not only was in in the middle of the driveway it was pulled up right behind both my Jeep and Greg's Impala. There was no way we could get out. So now the wild goose chase starts. Who does the car belong to....our duplex neighbors? The upstairs neighbors next door? The downstairs neighbors? Some random person who decided that they wanted to park there? I decided the upstairs neighbors were the most likely culprits. I felt like a jerk knocking on their door before 9 in the morning, but I had to go to work. They were the culprits. One of them had a visitor who parked there. So they came out in their PJs and moved their car to the road. They have a parking pass for the street, so I'm not exactly sure why they choose to block us in instead.

Now let's move forward in time to this morning at 7:30am. Greg had to leave early this morning to play in a work basketball game so he was up early. He came in to say goodbye and told me that there was someone parked behind us again. Who wants to knock on someones door at 7:30am on a Saturday morning and ask them to move their car? Not me. Luckily it wasn't my turn today. So Greg went over, knocked on the door and eventually of the neighbors came out in her tiny little night slip, got in her giant truck and moved it so Greg had room to back around the car that was blocking us in. Now at 11am the car blocking us is still there! Really? Why do people think it's ok to pull into a driveway that's not yours and block people in? Don't they have a little bit of common sense and respect?

These aren't the first incidents we've dealt with. Multiple times this semester we find cars parked in our driveway so we have to go knock on doors to find the driver, or try to maneuver around it. I've left nice notes of people's cars asking them not to park on our half of the driveway unless they are visiting people in our duplex. Why don't the neighbors next door tell their guest that they can't park there? I just don't understand. Really I'm at a loss.

So I'm trying to decide if I want to leave a note on their car. I won't be mean, I just want to make it clear that unless they are visiting us or our duplex neighbors, they can't park in our driveway. It would probably be useless. I should probably just talk to the neighbors and ask them to tell their visitors not to park in our driveway. Maybe I'll just make a big sign and post it on the side of the house where all can see....

Thank you for reading my rant. I feel a little better. But I'll feel much better when the red Saturn is gone and I can pull out of my driveway.