Following my typically Brit male attitude in trying to save money on furniture, I had to hire a Van for two Craigslist/Ikea pick-ups. So on Thurs @16.00 I went to Budget Car Rental, W Pender. The all-Hong Kongese Staff – part of a mass migration out of Hong Kong when China re-annexed it – was extremely helpful, even giving me free vouchers for some of the tourist hot spots! The Van was HUGE, over 20ft long and oddly stank of fish, giving me the impressions its last job was probably as a mobile fish market. One painless trip to Coquitlam Ikea later I was home plus one TV Stand. I checked the parking regulations on Alexander St. (home), and found it has free parking from 20:00 – 09:00 after which parking fees are $1/hour, perfect! It was just before 20:00 and I had planned to hit some tourist HOT spots in the morning before my Craigslist sofa pick-up, then return to Budget. Friday morning I wasn’t quite ready to leave at 09.00 so I popped out and put a $1 on the meter. Drinking a cup of tea and reading the morning news I glanced out at the mountains, what a beautiful view… to my disseray I also notice the Van is no longer there?! STOLEN! I’m not too worried as the Van isn’t mine and I have coverage with Budget, I was more impressed that the thief had so slickly and quickly stolen the 20ft long vehicle. I called 911 and reported the Van stolen, the police lady did a quick City of Vancouver impound check, and BOLLOCKS, it has been towed and is now sitting in the City of Vancouver car impound.
City of Vancouver Impound
I was furious! I knew for sure I had time remaining on the meter and it was parked at an acceptable distance from the curb, surely there was a mistake! One phone call to the city of Vancouver later, I find out… I had parked the ‘wrong way’. Parked the wrong way?! I’ve never come across this before in England, maybe it’s enforced on one-way streets and busy roads but on a residential street?! For those that don’t know, parking the ‘wrong way’ simply means parking on the side against the flow of traffic. Anyway.. I broke a Canadian law silly as it may seem. I had to deal with it and move on. I took a taxi to the pound and collected the Van; $97 release fee, brilliant! More like £250 in England. Pulling out of the pound and literally on the same road as the pound I see this;
Parking the wrong way
(Check pick-up on right) GREAT!
Anyway with my wheels back and freedom of the Road I head to pick up my Craigslist sofa. Address given; *** Pacific Boulevard, after an hour’s driving I give up, even the Sat-Nav (GPS) couldn’t find it. The guy has no phone, so I head back to Budget to return the Van in time. Home minus one Sofa I check the address on Ye-olde-faithfull; Google Maps and of course.. the number doesn’t exist. I email the guy and he instantly replies, oh yeah sorry, it’s ‘Street’ not Boulevard.. TOOL!
I’ve had better days but if we didn’t have shit days we wouldn’t appreciate great days, I’d just prefer also having a sofa to sit on and not a wooden patio chair on a shit day.
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The same thing happened to me when I lived in Colorado. I did the English thing of parking in any direction and they had me for it… a sticker on the windscreen though, not a towed car. Bit extreme!