Photo details: Nikon D7000 with 16-85mm lens, 1/1000sec at f8, ISO200
If you're not from Chicago, let me introduce you to a tradition we call "dibs"-- it's the system by which people "reserve" shoveled out parking spots by placing chairs, tables, or other random household objects in the street. My favorite is children's toys. This usually happens in the dead of winter after a large snowstorm such as Chicago's snowpocalypse. Of course, there's no legal precedent for this and no reason why anyone should honor someone else's dibs, yet surprisingly, most people do.
It's a tradition that draws a heated debate every winter, and there's even an advocacy group against it, called Chair Free Chicago. I've always just found it amusing.
This winter I decided to increase my Dibs amusement by adding a tasty ice cream snack to one of my neighbors parking spots. Reserved parking has never been more delicious!
Photo details: Nikon D7000 with 16-85mm lens, 1/800sec at f8, ISO200
A note to Edy's: please contact me to explore this amazing cross marketing opportunity. I'd be happy to, shall we say... crunch... through some ideas with you.
4 comments:
I'm also amused by this phenomenon every winter but didn't realize it had a name. I thought the excess of recent dibs place savers matched the snowstorm. In addition to the usual chairs I saw bar stools, ironing boards and a small chest of drawers marking out spots.
The Germans and Brits use towels to dibs their places around the pool, but never seen it used for parking spots ...
Hi Kathryn: I could be wrong, but I feel like the name is a newer phenomenon (of maybe the last 4 or 5 years). Growing up in Chicago, people in my neighborhood would often put out chairs and such, but I don't remember us ever calling it anything. It was just something that people did.
Where's Lucky in all of this? I bet he would make an excellent parking spot attendant!
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