Vengeance was not to be mine...

I have a tendency towards righteous indignation; for example, once when I was angle-parking in the city the driver of the car in the next space opened his door quite suddenly - resulting in little damage to his car door but a mighty big dent in the front corner of my car.  I was able to afford the panel-beating bill without much pain, but I wouldn't rest until I'd had him taken to the small-claims court (and won my money back).

So when I find that someone has parked their car across my driveway, preventing me from getting my car out of the garage and going to work, I get mad and I want to get even.  Several times over the last two or three years, I've had the satisfaction of seeing the offending vehicle towed away at the owner's expense.  It's fun, even.

This morning I had the opportunity to experience the same feeling - that of seeing some thoughtless driver get their just desserts.  I had to wait half an hour in the freezing cold for the Parkwise people to come by and assess the situation, and they rightly called the towing firm soon after. 

Unfortunately, the driver of the car turned up mere minutes before the tow truck did, no doubt thinking he'd escaped a hefty fine.  This was just what I didn't want.  I ran down my back steps, elbowing my boyfriend out of the doorway (who had only just got dressed for some important phone call), shouting 'Hey you! Are you the owner of this car?! ... etc'  The portly middle-aged man who'd snuck into the car seemed undisturbed by my exclamations, though my boyfriend seemed certain I was putting myself in danger of being knocked on the head. 

Although I was deprived of my revenge (the thought of this man returning for his car, only to find an empty space, then having to fork out eighty bucks to get it back from the towing firm), at least I was able to vent some of my anger on him (and without getting knocked out by the sizable recipient of my wrath).  Plus the Parwise guys, who were still sitting in their nice warm car, reassured me that the evil bastard would still be receiving his fine in the mail.  So all's well that ends well.