practical matters

Since I am going to the opthamologist tomorrow, I will have to move my car at 5 pm today. It is a bizarre fact of New York City life: if you own a car and cannot afford/don't wish to keep it in an expensive parking garage, you must grapple with the complex rules governing on-street parking. In order to park legally for the rest of the week, I must move my car to a side that permits parking after 6 pm. To find such a spot, I must move my car at no later than 5 and then sit with it in case the parking police come around writing tickets. This is a seldom-acknowledged loophole in the parking rules. As long as you are with your car, the agent will not give you a ticket. But if you leave your car before six, you will get a ticket, which costs at the very least $65. If the doctor has to do something nasty to my eye tomorrow I will not be able to drive because I suspect I will not be seeing so well. Today it is disgustingly hot and humid, and I don't look forward to spending an hour minding the car. I would prefer to move the car at 7 am tomorrow and then again at 5 pm. But I had better not risk it.