Tuesday, 3 August 2010
Parking.
Parking
Parking in the centre MK near where I live is an absolute nightmare. Unless you work on a Sunday, starting at 10 and finishing at 6, which is perfect, as there is no one around.
Either way, if I’m working a 10 hour shift (which I usually am) or going shopping for a few hours, then I HAVE to get the free parking. Located about a 5 – 10 minute walk from the centre itself is the nearest free parking, but it can be up to 15 minutes.
It’s that, or I pay £10 for a space right next to the centre, or a pound an hour on the red zone just outside the centre. Alternatively, there’s the 25p an hour zone, in between the two places. The purple zone. But when I’m earning about £50 a day, I do not want to be forking out a tenner for the parking. It’s ridiculous. Paying anything for parking seems such a waste, even when it isn’t much.
I don’t work a lot, but when I do, I pay for the petrol to get there (about £4 and something last time I checked, it’s probably more with the petrol increases) and the things I buy at work, food I get at work, anything I buy in the centre, or if I go to the cinema… it all adds up. I only usually work one day a week, and hopefully more when I get back from holiday, so I just don’t have that kind of money to spend on parking.
Parking at hospitals is the same. Why on earth would you charge someone when they are visiting someone who is seriously ill, hurt or dying? It’s unjustified, its immoral, it’s wrong. We shouldn’t do it. At the end of the day, a few hours at the shopping centre, it’s okay to charge for. But really, hospitals should not charge to park, especially when you don’t know how long you’re going to be there. In addition to that, if you’re at an NHS hospital, and not private, then clearly they don’t have all the money in the world to be using on parking. It’s not important.
What does the money go on anyway? Where does it get spent? If it’s in the hospital; don’t they get enough from the government, which goes into paying management positions where it should be spent on facilities anyway? Or does it go to the council, where it should be paying for recycling and cubbish collection, but instead goes on something else useless. Okay, I don’t know this for sure, and yes, of course I’m making this up.
But why should I pay for parking? I’m going to the shopping centre to buy things, and eat things, and watch your films. What more do you want from me? If I’m going to visit someone who’s ill, why should I pay more just to pick them up, or take them to an appointment, or possibly say my final goodbye to you? Someone argue with me, because I can’t see the benefit of parking without knowing where it goes.
I’m on holiday in Canada at the moment, and the Westin hotels are a prime example of expensive parking, which just goes to the big owners of the business. $15 for vale parking? There is a free car park literally 100 metres across the road for the Blue Mountain Resort. Why on earth would I pay to use your car park? I’m glad we didn’t.
Capitalist society car parking. Where does the money go?
I guess I’ll have to stick to my Sunday shift. Lots of choice of parking spaces at 9am!
I love this picture.... <3
Parking in the centre MK near where I live is an absolute nightmare. Unless you work on a Sunday, starting at 10 and finishing at 6, which is perfect, as there is no one around.
Either way, if I’m working a 10 hour shift (which I usually am) or going shopping for a few hours, then I HAVE to get the free parking. Located about a 5 – 10 minute walk from the centre itself is the nearest free parking, but it can be up to 15 minutes.
It’s that, or I pay £10 for a space right next to the centre, or a pound an hour on the red zone just outside the centre. Alternatively, there’s the 25p an hour zone, in between the two places. The purple zone. But when I’m earning about £50 a day, I do not want to be forking out a tenner for the parking. It’s ridiculous. Paying anything for parking seems such a waste, even when it isn’t much.
I don’t work a lot, but when I do, I pay for the petrol to get there (about £4 and something last time I checked, it’s probably more with the petrol increases) and the things I buy at work, food I get at work, anything I buy in the centre, or if I go to the cinema… it all adds up. I only usually work one day a week, and hopefully more when I get back from holiday, so I just don’t have that kind of money to spend on parking.
Parking at hospitals is the same. Why on earth would you charge someone when they are visiting someone who is seriously ill, hurt or dying? It’s unjustified, its immoral, it’s wrong. We shouldn’t do it. At the end of the day, a few hours at the shopping centre, it’s okay to charge for. But really, hospitals should not charge to park, especially when you don’t know how long you’re going to be there. In addition to that, if you’re at an NHS hospital, and not private, then clearly they don’t have all the money in the world to be using on parking. It’s not important.
What does the money go on anyway? Where does it get spent? If it’s in the hospital; don’t they get enough from the government, which goes into paying management positions where it should be spent on facilities anyway? Or does it go to the council, where it should be paying for recycling and cubbish collection, but instead goes on something else useless. Okay, I don’t know this for sure, and yes, of course I’m making this up.
But why should I pay for parking? I’m going to the shopping centre to buy things, and eat things, and watch your films. What more do you want from me? If I’m going to visit someone who’s ill, why should I pay more just to pick them up, or take them to an appointment, or possibly say my final goodbye to you? Someone argue with me, because I can’t see the benefit of parking without knowing where it goes.
I’m on holiday in Canada at the moment, and the Westin hotels are a prime example of expensive parking, which just goes to the big owners of the business. $15 for vale parking? There is a free car park literally 100 metres across the road for the Blue Mountain Resort. Why on earth would I pay to use your car park? I’m glad we didn’t.
Capitalist society car parking. Where does the money go?
I guess I’ll have to stick to my Sunday shift. Lots of choice of parking spaces at 9am!
I love this picture.... <3
Beavers, Bears and.... Jeeps.
I recently took part in a beaver and bear watch in the forest near Lake Sarcombie in Canada.
We first met our not-so-trusty jeep, which we named Bert. The splitting image of a jeep from Jurrassic Park - old, decrepid, falling to bits, difficult to get in and out of. Sounds like fun right? Well, when you need to drive 4km into the depths of a forest on a dusty track where you can’t go past 2nd gear… slight problem.
We had to go up one hill three times and do a massive run up because we couldn’t get enough speed. Imagine a rollercoaster, except one you’re driving, which isn’t safe, and you’re following another jeep, with seats that are broken, warning lights that keep flashing on, open sides and not too safe seatbelts. Pretty terrifying. Then we got used to it, and it was more like an out of control ride.
The first stop was at the beavers; Charlie, Ergo, Charlene, Charlotte. They were quite shy, but came closer when the guide we were with offered them food, they even came up onto the bank, or swam around the lake area (they had split it off by creating a 3 metre high by 10 metre long dam) and nommed on the leaves that he fed them. They were lovely, we went to have a look at their house, and walked around the river, and the guide told us all about them.
After another death ride in the jeep, we stopped off to view the black bear in the heart of the forest. There was a small viewing house we all sat in, everyone clicking their cameras frantically. It was pretty exciting, but the bear was quite far away, and we didn’t get a great view. We watched him paw food out of the massive tub (it looked like corn) which is given to them everyday by the hotel. A fox also crept into view, but thought better of it when he saw the bear and pottered off. A couple of squirrels also flitted around, stealing some corn, nomming around too. Cute.
Overall it was a really good experience, seeing some animals I probably never will see again. If anyone gets the chance to go roaming around the forests of Canada, check out for bear and beaver tours. And make sure you pick the most fallen apart jeep if you ever get to drive one. It’s definitley the most fun.
Sunday, 1 August 2010
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