I think I must be missing something here.
Most Sunday mornings you’ll find me at the local leisure centre. The centre has basketball courts, a library, a swimming pool, function rooms, a gym and much more. The reason I’m usually there is that’s where we join a bunch of other Christians for our weekly church service.
On a number of occasions I’ve pondered the parking at the centre. Today I spent quite a bit of time in the car park (more on that later) and so I had even more opportunity to wonder about a common occurence.
It’s a big car park. It has lots of bays. Most of them are empty on a Sunday morning. Many of the empty bays are reasonably close to the centre’s front entrance.
Also in the car park is a turning area where there is room for people to drop others off or pick them up. It’s also suitable if you need to get in and out of the centre quickly. I imagine it’d be handy if you had to drop in a library book or something similar. There are a number of signs in this area letting people know that they cannot park any longer than 15 minutes there at any time.
The thing that intrigues me is that quite often, and this morning was no exception, big beefy blokes drive up and park in the turning area then head off to the gym for their workouts. It’s obvious that they’ll be a lot longer than 15 minutes but they need to be as close to the centre’s entrance as possible. They are not prepared to park another 20 metres away.
I could understand it if they had mobility issues but these are fit people about to go and exercise yet they’re unable to walk 20 metres. They run on the treadmill, they’ll pump iron, they’ll put their bodies through all kinds of stresses but that little extra walk is too much. How odd.
I’ve noticed similar behaviour at a nearby park where cricket players will park on footpaths and cycleways rather than park in the plentiful bays 15 metres away. They’re prepared to run, jump, stretch and wallop the ball during the game but they are somehow unable to walk an extra 15 metres to and from their cars.
Is it that we are so car dependent that we don’t want to be any further away from our vehicles than we have to? Is it that these people think that their needs are more important than every one else’s? I’m really at a loss to understand the phenomenon.
Posted by Rodney Olsen
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I think this is universal. I’ve seen cars wait for a close-in spot when the lot is half empty. I tend to park far away from the door for the exercise. Of course that’s sometimes the only exercise I get.
I always love when people park in the handicapped or “new mother” spaces.
It’s kind of universal, unfortunately.
I was at a superannuation conference last year, and the guest presenter for the last day was a health dude – I’ve forgotten his name but he’s written books and I think had a TV show on ABC. He had a manic presentation style, but was very entertaining.
Anyway, one of the things he professed, and I’ve tried to follow, is to maximise incidental exercise. Park away from the door, use the stairs instead of the escalator, etc. Any exercise is good exercise and that’s the kind of thing you can do without sacrificing much time or making much of an effort.
There is a soccer pitch at my boyfriend´s place, right opposite his house. All the soccer players park their cars on the road, making traffic more difficult. To the other side is a big parking lot, an empty one and they wouldn´t constrict traffic. Their “pub” is nearer there, too… Sportsmen, he?
It’s laziness, pure and simple. And rude, I might add!