Parking – a game of cunning, skill and who gets their first

October 16, 2007 - 10:03 AM by Nicky

If you think Israeli banks are bad when it comes to queuing (see David’s story below), you should try parking at the outdoor mall in Kfar Saba on Fridays.
Once a week sellers set up a host of stalls selling everything from clothes and belts, to cakes, food, spices, trinkets and jewelry – most of it hand made. It’s a great visit. But the parking is pandemonium.
You queue round the block to get through security, and then enter a car park bursting with vehicles. You can barely move for the cars searching a space. They drive round and round and round, and it’s hard to even move an inch, let alone park.
It’s a game of cunning and skill. Like that children’s game where you have to find a seat when the music stops.
Israelis use three main tactics.
1.       Wait in a central location and then accelerate fast when a space appears, and be prepared to argue.
2.       Get your partner out of the car to search for a space, and then stand in it turning everyone else away until you can reach there.
3.       Identify a returning shopper and follow him as he goes back to the car. “I’m with you,” you yell out the window. Just to make sure they know.

One Friday morning, Kfar Saba tried something new. The security guards only let cars in when there was a space. Imagine that. It was the fastest I’ve ever parked there in my life.
Did the Israelis like it? Hell no.
The next week it was back to pandemonium again.

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