Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Quickie

So.  I've been hangin' out in this piece of middle-class suburbia for about a week now and I've noticed the strangest thing: people in these parts have a habit of parking their cars in the yard.  Most of the lots in this subdivision are fenced, yet ALL of 'em have double gates so the owner can drive his/her big-ass SUVs or trucks into the backyard.  Witness:


Now, it's a true fact everyone in this neighborhood has a two-and-a-half car garage and some have three car garages.  Each house has a substantially-sized driveway that will accommodate three or four vehicles, depending on size.  And The Deity At Hand knows... as do the rest of us... that there's also scads of curbside parking available.  Yet people feel a need to put their rides on the lawn.  This tells me the residents here are (a) newly upwardly-mobile and haven't yet broken old habits (unlikely) or (b) it's a Suthin' thang.  (BTW... SN1 doesn't do this.)

Life is full o' lil mysteries.

9 comments:

  1. Maybe they are embarrassed at the green footprint they are leaving by driving big-assed SUVs.

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  2. I've never seen that before in my life, very weird.

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  3. Just in my limited experience with nice 'hoods, many of them have covenants that don't allow parking on the street, or outside of an enclosed garage.

    Don't know if that applies where you're holed up or not. But, there are bunches of developments where it does.

    I don't really think it's a Southern thang. But, it could be. Heck, where I live people (mostly Mexicans) park their huge SUVs in the front yard so that the driveway can be left clear for the real work trucks coming and going.

    So, what do I know?

    Maybe the garages are filled with a bunch of useless junk, and the back yard just has to "do."

    As a final thought, maybe Mom & Pop like to sneak out of the house for a little stroll down memory lane in the truck every once in a while...you know...kinda not wake up the chirrens...and don't want the neighbors to watch the fog up.

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  4. Could be restrictive covenants in the neighborhoods, or it could be a Southern thang. Little Rock just enacted an ordinance prohibiting cars from being parked on lawns (except, of COURSE, near War Memorial Stadium on Razorback game days!) because, apparently, too many folks were doing just that.

    Then again -- maybe the big ol' trucks just won't clear those garage doors.

    w/v: thment. You'd think they'd park ktheir big ol' trucks on thment.

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  5. Lou: It's not limited to SUVs... I've seen all sorts of vehicles in back yards here. But no Priuses... so mebbe you're right.

    Daph: I've seen it a lot in rural areas, but never in leafy suburbia.

    Andy: I've seen cars parked on the street here, so I'm speculating covenants ain't the answer. I can buy the stuffed-to-overflowing-garage thing, coz I know folks in that space... LOTS of 'em. But those people park in their driveways. But I've never seen this phenomenon to the extent it appears in THIS neighborhood.

    Moogie: Your speculation about a "Southern Thing" is closest, I think. I know the trucks/SUVs clear the garage doors coz I've seen a few people pull into their garages. Your point is well taken, as old garages wouldn't accommodate an SUV; this area, OTOH, is relatively new construction.

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  6. Garsh, I'd feel awfully guilty about parking on such nice GREEN grass. That's the nice thing about the desert out here - it's all prime, guilt-free parking space.

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  7. I park my pickup in the driveway (No a$$hole covenants in my neighborhood), but I do have my fenced in yard clogged with two boats with trailers.

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  8. That lawn-parking thing is not necessarily Suthin' but it IS Hillbilly.

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  9. Does every backyard have one big brown spot amidst the green (excluding SN1, of course?)

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.