Most Christmas shopping is done by women. So it is always good to have some time-saving tips for the days which become fraught with trying to get through everything the kids have at school as well as working the budget around extra food and gifts.
My number one tip is to shop where parking is free. This means that if you are dithering over what exactly to get for the hardest person to buy for in the family and you have been to two different stores and still not decided at least you don’t have the added stress of trying to remember if you have overstayed your time in the carpark.
My Number One Place Not to Go To is Smales Farm on the North Shore. Long ago, when I lived on the North Shore, Smales farm was a farm and had real animals and a farmer who came and shifted stock and generally tended to them if a farmerly way. Now Smales Farm is a conglomeration of offices and a cafe and a few poor stores who must be in the worst business location on earth.
Parking is for one hour. It is well signposted with that information, but if you happen to be like me and park and then are thinking ahead about the next task you may not notice the restriction. At your peril. I have just had a parking ticket for overstaying my time by 15 minutes and even though I have written explaining the situation I have just received a letter to say that I must pay my $40 fine and if I don’t do it by the time allocated I will be charged another $25. Pretty easy money don’t you think? This is not a council initiative but it is a private parking place and the fines and the parking is policed by Parking Control Services – PCS. So be wary of having coffee or staying longer than an hour for lunch at the cafe. You will be paying for more than the cost of the caffeine.
What I find most surprising is that the business in the area agree to such a ridiculous time allowance for parking. It isn’t as if it is a small car park with not many spaces it is large and the day I was there I noted plenty of spaces available.
I wish the cattle were back at Smales Farm. I wish the farmer was there doing his farm work. And I hope Santa forgets to come to PCS this Christmas.
