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I feel great. I just had someone’s car towed.

I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I’m starting to realize that living in the city teaches you to be harsh and swift.

Last night we got home from seeing Erin Smith Band, and there was someone else’s car parked in our spot. It’s not the first time this has happened: the time before, it was a simple mix-up between permit holders, so it wasn’t a big huge deal. However, this car did not have a parking permit for our building, so this was a problem. We waited an hour and the car was still there.

I should point out that I’ve never been in this position before: I was faced with either calling the police and having the offending hunk of metal tagged and towed or waiting for the people. Sandy and I talked/argued about it a bit and I decided that we would wait until the morning, simply because I didn’t think that parking enforcement would respond very quickly and I wanted to get some sleep (Sandy needed some rest too).

So this morning (10:45am), lo and behold, the bloody car is still in our spot. Furthermore, our car, which was parked in the visitor’s parking, has a parking ticket. So I’m screaming blue bloody murder in the middle of the parking lot for a few seconds (this is Toronto, so it’s a regular occurance anyways) and then I drive Sandy to work and race home. Car is still there. Smoke comes out of Victor’s ears. Victor calls Toronto Police Services and they dispatch a parking officer.

The fun ensues! 20 minutes later the lady officer shows up, I’m waiting outside because I really don’t want these people to leave. I show her the parking tag inside our car with our parking space # on it, that’s all the proof she needs. Writes the offending car a ticket, asks me if I’d like it towed (“Hell yeah!”), I sign the indemnity that this is my spot and this car shouldn’t be here, she calls in a tow truck.

I will admit that I have never actually seen the entire process of a car being towed performed for me before, so I sat around and waited. I can now safely say that I will never put my car in danger of being towed, ever, EVER, EVER again. Tow truck operators are not gentle.

All said and done it only took about an hour… I should have done it last night but I was just too forgiving. Not any more!

PS: Sandy was right all along.