Local Trivia: The old man and the sea

P.C. and I drove down to the shore yesterday, to one of my favorite beaches, Rocky Neck. We'd left in midafternoon and stopped at the Middletown Goodwill on the way, so by the time we pulled up to the little kiosk where we'd pay for parking, it was 6 p.m. The park closes at 8.

Parking costs $5. I had no cash at all. P.C. had $4 and managed to scrounge 45 cents out of the various places change might be secreted in a car.

"Is $4.45 okay?" P.C. asked the old man in the kiosk.

"No," the man said matter-of-factly and with what P.C. described as the glimmer of a smile. "There's an ATM across the street."

I think it should be obvious to anyone reading that we did not go to the ATM or return to pay that man the $.55 balance. Instead, we went right down the street to the Niantic boardwalk, which has free parking, benches (we ate our packed picnic dinner at one), and less crowding than Rocky Neck typically has. We had a great time.

So here's my complaint, which I suppose can't just be "an old man was stingy about money" -- that seems like a cliche if it's not one: State parks such as Rocky Neck need to be maintained, true. And that costs money -- true again.

But our parking in a spot that was inevitably empty at two-hours-to-close on a Tuesday evening wouldn't necessitate them repainting lines or putting out new asphalt. In fact, there would be no additional charges associated with letting us into the park. We were obviously making a good-faith effort to pay the parking fee, and we were half a candy-bar's worth of money short.

So, state park system of Connecticut, here's my proposal: If it's a Tuesday at 6 p.m. and the park is going to be open for another two hours, accepting four dollars and forty-five cents for no additional work on your part (or on anyone's part) is much, much smarter than accepting no dollars, no cents, and pissing people off.

But don't expect me to come back and try to teach you this lesson personally, because I'm already pissed off.