If you have a house or a business, how do you stop cars from parking in front, making it impossible for you to get in and out, move supplies in and out, and let customers in and out?
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| As you can see, a "NO PARKING - Tow Away Zone" sign will not do the job. |
The most commonly employed solutions are low tech but quite effective. People set out obstacles, heavy and solid enough to deter a would-be parker from simply driving over them or moving them, but portable enough that they can be moved out of the way by the home/shop owner if necessary.
One of the most popular anti-parking devices are large plastic jugs filled with water or, more commonly, sand.
This residence is on our daily walk to daycare. Every morning the woman sets out her jugs on the street.
All sorts of other objects are employed. Giant tires, metal barriers.
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| Notice this metal thing is secured by a chain so it can't be stolen. |
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| When not in use, it can be stored off the street. Note the wrappings around the sharp edges. |
But when the barriers are out, you have to constantly step out into traffic in order to walk around them.
(This is post 4 out of 4 on the subject of parking. See earlier posts here, here, and here.)
You are lucky (or savvy) to not need a car for your daily existence. But wondering if Lance and Erma own a car in Gyeongju? If so, where do you park when at home and when you go out? If not, how do you get to distant places such as hikes in the hills?
ReplyDeleteWe do not own a car in Gyeongju, but Erma's parents -- with whom we live -- own two cars. In one of them is installed the child car seat that we brought with us from the US. We do use the car on weekends for family outings. Parking at home is not a problem, as there is ample parking in the apartment complex. (Ample in that there are enough spaces; to my American tastes, not ample in terms of maneuvering room.) You can see a bit of what the parking spaces look like in the video accompanying this post: http://shouerjournal.blogspot.kr/2015/03/demolition-by-ladder.html .
ReplyDeleteAs for going out, we have mostly only gone to places where there are parking lots. Erma's mother has mentioned that going to the post office with a large package is essentially impossible, as there is no way to park. But the places we regularly go by car—Namsan for hiking, Home Plus for big shopping trips—have parking lots.
Incidentally, Gyeongju is a biking city. People bike everywhere. Many bikers are quite elderly. I have never seen a helmet, and every day I see insanely dangerous moves by bikers and drivers alike. But there seems to be a general understanding that anyone on wheels will keep moving forward no matter what, even if slowly, and this assumption somehow helps prevent accidents.