row in parking lot with head teacher! (longish)

[sansouci]

There is next to no parking by dd's school. Everyone complains but for the moment, nothing has actually been done about it, except for the police coming round & taking photos of pick-up & drop-off times. The yummy-mummies make it even worse with SUVs but anyway.

Yesterday when I went to pick up dd from school, I had to double park. I left my warning lights flashing to show that I was coming back soon. Unfortunately, dd didn't come to the car easily & then I got chatting with another mummy, as you do, forgetting completely about my precarious parking place.

On returning to the car, a group of angry women were clustered in front of the school & of course I apologised profusely to the one or two I had blocked.

One woman made a rather bitchy comment as I was charging by & when I saw her heading for her car a few minutes later, I asked her what she felt could be done about the parking. It's not my problem, she replied shortly. We got into an argument, which escalated, as things do on a Friday afternoon. She said, I'm a teacher at this school! to which I retorted, My daughter is a student at this school & if you're part of the staff, you should care about the parking problem! I wasn't rude, but I was very angry with her & she was angry with me.

I eventually roared off, furious and shaking, cursing the woman aloud. Do you know that silly woman? I asked DD. Yes, she said, she's the head teacher. Oh SH*T, I thought, Now I've done it.

How can I face her again? She'll be dd's teacher one day. I think I was right to be cross but I was at fault & certainly on the defensive. What do you think I can do?

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I had an elderly near-school resident quizzing me about term times and whinging at the eld of last term. I amswered politely and muttered something about improving her house value under my breath once she'd gone. (school was built either before or at the same time as ht ehouses),

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No. She had a blue rinse though, Cod.

KS in Apostrophe Horror! I'm rushing off to start a new thread alerting everyone...

I drop DD Y4 off at campus gate and she walks the rest of the way into school (not much - about 200m up a path and then a further two rugby pitch widths plus a bit down the side of the field to her classroom).

Some parents drive their children down this first bit, park their car, walk child(ren) Y3 or below to school door, walk back to car. Get in. Drive older children all round edge of rugby field and into upper school (Y4-6) car park. Walk children to school door. Sit in traffic for 20 mins to get off campus.

I know some of them drive a long way to the school but why can't their children walk from lower school to upper? Answer: cos they have too many bags to carry apparently. Well DD has lots of bags to carry too but she has to manage. Pampered, that's what they are.

Ks, you manage because you have to. i have 3 dd's, one aged 5, one aged 3 and a 7month old. two days a week, dd2 goes to pre-school a mile away from dd1 school. there is just enought time between drop off times for both to actually walk it, but then it leaves me no time to get home, get a tea or do anything in between having to go back out to get dd2. like isaid further down , i have only been driving the last 4days, but have no need to park outside the gates, and even with waiting for the other mums/dads to leave it means i still have time to get to dd2 to pre-school.

Even when I have been going to work immediately afterwards (and desperate to get there because childminder should have been taking DS so I'm already late) I find it quicker to walk him to school and then walk home. I make sure everything I need is already in the car so I don't have to go back in the house. And I'm sure this is quicker because the congestion around school (like every other school I assume) is dreadful.

We walk to school, wind or rain (about ten minutes walk) but am always astonished that people who actually live nearer to the school then us DRIVE????

But due to lack of parking spaces in school grounds, have the nerve to park alongside the road, making it dangerous for us when we are trying to cross. (there is no safe way to teach your child to cross safely from behind a parked car)

Some idiot, once even parked across the pedatrian crossing (think she had several notes plastered on her windscreen when she got back)

School car parks should be reserved for teachers, diasabled drivers, and those that live more than two miles away from the school (YES, TWO MILES, 40 MINUTE WALK WON'T DO YOU ANY HARM AT ALL - JUST GET UP EARLIER)

sorry, rant over, just pissed off that I take daily risks with my children trying to cross roads, blocked with suv's and lazy buggers who should know better!
feel better now

hmmmmm 40min walk there, drop dd2 off for her 2.5hour session, walk back home (so 1hour 50mins left), leave home after 70mins to walk back to dd2 pre-school(40mins) alk backwith her(another 40mins. end of the day, walk to dd1 school (1mile away, 20mins walk) walk back. so in one day i will have walked 10miles and spent over 3hours minutes walking to schools and back. no thanks!!

I don't think I was ever driven to school or back my entire childhood. Lived within walking distance of infant, primary and middle schools. Used to travel 30 miles each way to high school, but on a bus or a train. Only time I remember being collected was when the bus broke down and it was snowing - and even then my mother said it would have been quicker to wait for the next bus!

Mollycoddled, that's what all these school run children are.

i wa never driven to school wither, but lived across the rd from one, and a 2min wlak from the other.

We used to go on the bus. My ex walked 3 miles to school and 3 miles back by himself from the age of 7.

We lived in a lake. Youngsters today don't know they're born.

FFS! How many times do I have to tell you that there is no damned public parking anywhere around the school?!

Are you getting off on this finger-pointing or what? Is this a witch-hunt?

The school is situated on the perimeter of a small Swiss town called Nyon in a fairly drab residential area called Les Fontaines. Look it up on the Internet if you don't believe me. To walk from the nearest public parking facility (Place Perdtemps or Centre La Combe) would take at least half an hour there and an hour back with dd in tow. Don't you dare call me lazy!

Most of you act as if you've never put a foot wrong in your lives! I've said I'm sorry, I've said I'll never double park again (but will park half on the road, half on the pavement as usual -- because THERE IS NOWHERE ELSE.)

ah, yes. "...and our mother n father would dance about in our graves singin alleluya..."

I am starting to feel very sorry for the Scented One. How she was persecuted!

Hey, SS (AH, I presume) - not quite sure what to say as I was one of the original people who upset you on this thread, but when I did, I wasn't aware of many of the circs surrounding your parking dilemma. Have you decided what you're going to do?

Hi Hunkerpumpkin. Don't worry about it! I try not to take it too personally.

I'm going to apologise to all and sundry at the school tomorrow, saying solemnly "I'm sorry I lost my temper." and I'll never double park again."

SS - do ever wished you'd not posted??!!!! I bet your next few trips to the school will have you checking your rearview mirror for MNetters

LOL PG! I know tempers can get a bit heated on here, but I doubt any of them will travel over to Switzerland specially to oversee SS's parking!

SS, will be interested to read an update. Promise not to do any witch-hunting (though it is the season ) or finger-pointing

No, I've learned quite a bit from this thread. I've learned how serious double parking is (I've never done it before and i'll never do it again, that's for damned sure!); I now know how it feels to be demonised on MN (terrible); I'm questioning cost/quality ratio of the school; and I find myself really liking some MNers I'd never considered before.

I quite liked janh's thread - I have double parked, should I be stoned to death?
actually I did once get arrested in Switz for jay walking >>awaits MN stoning