To ease traffic congestion, the police strictly cracks down on illegal parking. Possibly as a result of this, in urban areas there are more and more parking lots that charge by the hour. In the past I had an unpleasant experience while moving house. It was a residential area, and there was space for a car to pass even when my vehicle was parked. I’d finished loading up my belongings and took a break for about five minutes, but when I returned I found that a parking violation had been stuck to the windscreen of the small truck I’d hired to move house with. I was upset and complained to the police, but in the end had to pay the fine. I related this incident to a friend of mine who is a printer and he had the following to say: “When I deliver printed material to our clients, I always park in front of the company.” “There must be times when you have to park for a while. So you must end up with a parking violation like I did.” He said, “If I leave my car in a parking lot each time, I have to pay, and it is impossible to carry the goods from there to the client’s office because they are too heavy.” He continued: “I am reported for violations once or twice a year, but it is much cheaper to pay the fine, rather than parking fees.” Seeing the look of astonishment and admiration on my face, he said, with a smile: “I have a colleague who’s even cheekier. He attaches a piece of paper to his windscreen when he parks for a long time.” “What does it say?” I asked. He replied, “Out of order. Under repair.”