10am!

In Berkeley and in Washington D.C., downtown street parking is tricky business. Anyone parking their car in these places has to be sure that they read carefully the sign stating the parking rules, and also that they are careful to read the right sign. On one stretch of road, it may be OK to park without putting money in the meters from 6pm until 9am, but further down the same street, it may only be Ok from 4pm to 7am. Or no parking allowed at all every third Wednesday of the month. Or only 30 minutes of parking on one side of the street, but 2 hours on the other side of the street. A dizzying array of permutations and exceptions that vary not only by section of town or street but also section of street. Though these rules generally have some rational explanation (flow of traffic, presence of school, etc.), they are clearly also intended to trip up the careless driver, who ends up with an unexpectantly high and unpleasant parking ticket.

This is my excuse for awaking in a cold sweat this morning at 7:30am, convinced I had left my car overnight in some part of Reykjavík which would ban parking from 8am until 10am, or who knows what. I had not taken the time to carefully read the sign closest to my car, and without a clear memory of what it said, my mind began to imagine bad things. So I walked all the way across town, only to find out my car would have been just fine there, without paying, all the way until 10am. The same as everywhere in downtown, as far as I can tell.