I had to drive today because I have a court appearance this afternoon in beautiful downtown Waukegan, the birthplace of one of my heroes, Jack Benny. (Benny and my Older Daughter are forever linked because they share a birthday.)
Parking in downtown Chicago is expensive. And the proprietors of these lots assume that their customers are not only rich, but stupid.
For that reason, the garage owners provide mnemonic hints to help the feeble minded remember where they left their cars. Every garage is different. One marks each level with a different country – and plays a song snippet associated with the country as you stand in the elevator lobby waiting to descend to the street. Another, across from the Goodman Theater, assigns a different musical to each floor, also with appropriate snippet. These little aural clips are only 15 or 20 seconds long. If the elevator is slow, even if you weren't feeble-minded at the outset, you will become so standing in the elevator lobby. (Dolly, please stop saying hello. Goodbye already, Dolly. Please.)
I chose a garage this morning that has no song snippets – but each floor is assigned to a different celestial body. The first level is Mercury, the second Venus, the third Earth... and so on.
And today I'm parked on Level 9.
Hmmmm. That would be the Pluto level.
Hmmmm.
I hope my car is still there when I get back.
3 comments:
lets just hope your saab isn't demoted to a yugo, like poor Pluto!
With they had that here; very ingenious.
Well, Chicogo has something on us...there is no fun parking here. I love the concept of different countries and song snippets that associate with the country...would be interesting to visit just for the fun of it.
OH yes, and poor Pluto...hope you found your car alright.
A great day to you.
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