Day 9

Today on my way to a meeting I noticed the parking meter man was out. I had 10 loonies in my purse knowing at some point this month I would pay some meters as an act of kindness. I asked the man if I could pay the meter before he gave the car a ticket, he said sure and put his pen down.

Then I walked a few steps ahead of him and put a loonie in each meter that was flashing. As we walked along I saved 6 more cars from getting tickets. He looked at me and said, you sure made my job easy this morning ;) I smiled and said, I hope I make a few people happy when they come out to their car and see they didn’t get a ticket :) After my meeting I saved three more cars until my loonies were gone.

Now I know in PEI it is only $5 for a parking ticket (unlike big cities where it is $50-$100) but it is more the inconvenience of having to pay the ticket when you get it (either walking to city hall or paying online). So although my 10 loonies only saved 10 people $5 each, every little bit helps.

I probably should have done this while I was in Ottawa as my colleague got a $55 dollar parking ticket on one of the days I was there last week. On my next visit I will make sure I play "parking angel" and watch for expired meters.