My Shelfari Bookshelf

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

WTF?

Okay, so if you are coming from facebook you know what is going on, if not here is the scoop. I work 10 - 6:30 Monday through Friday at an office in Vienna. Usually around 2:30-3:30 I take my hour long lunch break and go sit in my car, eat my lunch, and read a book at a spot were the road expands and a sidewalk starts near the entrance to a neighborhood about a mile from my job. For those that know the area it is over in the back roads between OLGC (a private catholic school in Vienna) and Freedom Hill Elementary.

I choose this location for 3 reasons: 1. It is about 2 minutes from my job so if someone calls me and needs me to come back I can be there quickly. 2. It is a sunny patch of sky but has a tree I usually park my car under that keeps me shaded and the scenery around in pleasant. 3. It is quite, with not a lot of traffic or people walking around to distract me.

Well today I was sitting there, snug in my car trying desperately to get to the end of the Novel I am currently reading as I want to move onto something else and it is getting painful to read when a man walks up the street towards my car, pulls off his hat and stops by my window, motioning me to roll it down. Gosh I think, what could this be about and oblige.

"What are you doing here," the man asks me?

"Eating my lunch and reading my book," I reply.

"You know, there is a school down the street and a bus stop over there, don't you?"

"Yes," I reply, "I come here to, as I said read my book and eat lunch. I work about a mile away and come here to get away and think about other things."

"Ever though about going to a parking lot instead?"

"I don't like parking lots, to many people walking around and cars coming in and out, distracts me from reading."

"Well so you know, the parents around here have observed you and we have your description and license number and if anything happens around here the police will be coming to talk to you," he says. "Seems kind of odd you coming here every day if you don't want something, no offence but eat lunch somewhere else."

That was about the gist of our conversation, he then dawned his hat and headed back down the street to his house I am guessing. I am shocked? WTF? Can't a guy sit in his car and read a book and be left alone? Not in the streets of Vienna it seems.

Time to find a new place to each lunch.

2 comments:

  1. Dude, that's insane! Sorry to hear about that. I used to do the same thing (read in my car at lunch) but I'd hang out in a parking lot. We had a parking garage so I'd park far in the back where no one ever went. Good luck finding a new spot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dude sorry about that, might I suggest next time you pick a spot without a school around it. People are touchy about that kind of thing. Though you have to wonder about all these people home during the day.

    ReplyDelete