Don't do it unless you have to. It's hell on earth. Literally. Especially during a Houston level rainstorm.
This is Park Avenue looking south, at 77th. You should be able to see Grand Central Station and The Met Life Building at the end of it. No way. It was coming down so hard...and within 2 blocks, traffic was nearly at a standstill. I only had to get to 60th and Park, but it took me half an hour and then there was zero parking.
This was the second phase of the storm; I'd spent the first phase picking up items from a building that has no parking around it, either. Not even underground; just a canopy from the door to the curb. I already knew this so had parked a couple blocks away then moved the things I was picking up down to the doorman and gone to get my van. It was only sprinkling. But when I was a block from the entrance...that's when it let loose.
I was going to park by a nearby hydrant and run in. Instead, I did what any good New Yorker does (and which pisses me off) -- I double-parked, put on my blinkers and jumped into the lobby to get them...then used a flat box to keep them from getting wet as I tossed them inside my minivan. I got drenched but the boxes of books were fine.
It had stopped by the time I got to my next spot, so I parked and paid the meter and went in to get the book I needed...and made it out just in time to get a ticket for being in there too long and just before it came down, again. I spent enough time driving around looking for parking at my last stop to where it stopped, again...so I made a delivery and as I got back to my van, it started yet again. This time it kept up till I was almost to the George Washington Bridge.
I got drenched three times in four hours. Didn't get fully dry till I was in Parsippany, New Jersey en route home. That's only 28 miles down the 80 from NYC, but it took me two hours in traffic that would make LA proud.
Love the rain, just hate driving in NYC.
This was the second phase of the storm; I'd spent the first phase picking up items from a building that has no parking around it, either. Not even underground; just a canopy from the door to the curb. I already knew this so had parked a couple blocks away then moved the things I was picking up down to the doorman and gone to get my van. It was only sprinkling. But when I was a block from the entrance...that's when it let loose.
I was going to park by a nearby hydrant and run in. Instead, I did what any good New Yorker does (and which pisses me off) -- I double-parked, put on my blinkers and jumped into the lobby to get them...then used a flat box to keep them from getting wet as I tossed them inside my minivan. I got drenched but the boxes of books were fine.
It had stopped by the time I got to my next spot, so I parked and paid the meter and went in to get the book I needed...and made it out just in time to get a ticket for being in there too long and just before it came down, again. I spent enough time driving around looking for parking at my last stop to where it stopped, again...so I made a delivery and as I got back to my van, it started yet again. This time it kept up till I was almost to the George Washington Bridge.
I got drenched three times in four hours. Didn't get fully dry till I was in Parsippany, New Jersey en route home. That's only 28 miles down the 80 from NYC, but it took me two hours in traffic that would make LA proud.
Love the rain, just hate driving in NYC.
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