Spin-off on parking in driveway: have you seen the folding chairs?

[Ashleen]

You put a folding chair out to reserve a parking spot? My grandparents used to do this on their street (there weren't driveways, as the houses all predated cars and were built close together) and then people knew you had company coming and not to park there. I have still seen this in the Pittsburgh area and pointed it out to dh, who is weirded out by the idea. He says around here people would say, "Look, a free chair!" and keep taking them until they had a whole set.

[GSMP]

You put a folding chair out to reserve a parking spot? My grandparents used to do this on their street (there weren't driveways, as the houses all predated cars and were built close together) and then people knew you had company coming and not to park there. I have still seen this in the Pittsburgh area and pointed it out to dh, who is weirded out by the idea. He says around here people would say, "Look, a free chair!" and keep taking them until they had a whole set.

 

That's funny.....Your husband is right...at least that is what would happen here.....:lol:

 

I've never heard of that......:001_huh:

[Philothea]

I don't live in the city, but in Boston it gets nasty. Especially when the snow flies, if you shovel out a spot, that is about as good as writing your name on it. We've seen lots of things, from cones to chairs to barrels to reserve precious parking spaces.

 

One thing, I would never think of parking there, you just don't know what these people will do to your car.

[Kathy in MD]

Around here, recycling bins are the reservation marker of choice.

[Harriet Vane]

Where I live, in the city, "dibs" can be claimed by placing any item in a freshly shoveled parking space. Said items are usually broken lawn chairs but I have seen old laundry boards and other such oddments. The street ends up looking like a yard sale of sorts.

 

John Kass has written many humorous articles on "dibs" in the Chicago Tribune.

[Marie in Oh]

I've always thought it was weird to save a parking place with a chair, but at my son's soccer tournaments, parents would leave the fields and save their parking spot for when they had to return to play later in the day. Guess they don't think about all of us who play in between when their child does. Good grief.

[Ashleen]

Where I live, in the city, "dibs" can be claimed by placing any item in a freshly shoveled parking space. Said items are usually broken lawn chairs but I have seen old laundry boards and other such oddments. The street ends up looking like a yard sale of sorts.

 

John Kass has written many humorous articles on "dibs" in the Chicago Tribune.

 

It's called "dibs" in the Pittsburgh area too, but it's almost always a folding chair.

[OnTheBrink]

That's the oddest thing I've heard in a while! Around here, if something is left on the street, it's assumed to be available for anyone to take, that its a freebie the owner no longer wants.

[farmgirlinwv]

Too funny! I agree w/ your dh...around here people would be losing their chairs! I can understand when they've shoveled out a space, but otherwise I think that's rude.

[Parrothead]

I've always thought it was weird to save a parking place with a chair, but at my son's soccer tournaments, parents would leave the fields and save their parking spot for when they had to return to play later in the day. Guess they don't think about all of us who play in between when their child does. Good grief.

For something like that I'd just move the chair.

 

Parking as close as one can get to one's home is a different matter entirely.

[ticklbee]

That's the oddest thing I've heard in a while! Around here, if something is left on the street, it's assumed to be available for anyone to take, that its a freebie the owner no longer wants.

 

Same here - all unwanted items go to the curb. But then again, we live in the suburbs where everyone has a driveway so the dynamics are a little bit different.

[Marie in Oh]

For something like that I'd just move the chair.

 

Parking as close as one can get to one's home is a different matter entirely.

 

 

Though one time there were people in the chairs. I think half the family left in the car and the other half stayed to save the parking place. Nonetheless, I still think it is weird.

[mommaduck]

One city I lived near, that would have been just offering up a chair. Here, people place their really nice beach and lawn chairs up and down the sidewalks early in the morning or the night before to mark their place to sit in the even of a parade. And you know something...no one touches them.