Fitting Right In

The Little Princess and I have an ongoing competition trying to one-up each other in a little game we like to call "Who is More Aussie?" She seems to think she is more "Aussie" than me because she uses words like "heaps"and "ta-mah-to sauce" and calls me "mum". Usually she wins, but last week I trumped her with the holy grail of Aussie-ness. Parking.

I've noticed that Australians love to back their cars into parking spaces. I think it is actually their preferred parking method. Back in the U.S. I only backed my car in when absolutely necessary. (Like when going to see Elmo Live on Stage at the Civic Arts Plaza when a million other mothers with sleepy toddlers would be trying to exit the parking structure at exactly the same time. If you didn't back in you would never be able to get out!) But here everybody backs in all the time. I've been intimidated by all this backing in. The parking spaces here are very narrow, often bordered by cement pylons or cinder block walls. To make matters worse, street parking often involves stopping traffic on busy roads to parallel park. I have walked blocks out of my way to avoid parallel parking on the street. I've had nightmares about long lines of hurried drivers behind me honking while I try unsuccessfully to squeeze my big new Toyota Kluger into a tiny spot on the street.

But now that has all changed.

First, I backed my car into this tiny space at Woolies (the grocery store where you can by 2 12pks of Diet Coke for the amazing sale price of $16 this week).




Then I parallel parked my car on Military Road perfectly on the first try! I was too busy gloating about my amazing Aussie parking skills to take a picture of the perfect parking job. But trust me, it was spot on. Even the Little Princess had to concede. I am so Aussie. I fit right in.