The rain and clouds seem to mask things that are otherwise too obvious when the sun is shining. Like the cobwebs on the ceiling and banks of cat hairs in the corners. The glint of chain link fence cutting off the shortcut to NW 22nd. This morning I went from warm bed to scraping car windows in the equivalent of zero to a 120.

7:42 a.m. in bed offering last minute advice to my daughter as she tried to print a paper that was suddenly missing its conclusion.

7:44 a.m. scraping ice off of the windshield with Emily's bus pass. No time to look under the seat for a scraper.

7:50 a.m. Game of chase the bus successfully resolved, I turn away from the sunrise and back toward Sunset Hill.

7:51 a.m. I spot trouble. Big trouble.

With just four shopping days to go before one of the two holidays when there is no garbage service, what should I see in the QFC parking lot on NW 24th but a flat bed truck piled high with what will be a chain link fence by noon?

A word on parking in America. Parking is paramount. Parking is more dear to people than the economy, sometimes even their children. I worked in Human Resources for a decade. Parking is everything to an employee - more important than vacation.

So in a lovely goodwill gesture the big QFC parking lot is about to be put out of bounds. The local business owners have been bracing themselves for this. Tony Topalian from Abraxus Books had already been discussing the parking woes with the owners at Classic Consignment. Art, the nice parking attendant in the orange vest at Bartell's, has been dreading this day for a long time.

If you talk to some of the long-time residents of Ballard at Kaffe Stua (subject to their finding a parking spot at the Leif Erickson Lodge) they'll scoff over the number of condo's being built but are most concerned by parking changes.

Margaret Anderson, the lodge librarian and an eighty-nine year resident of Phinney and Ballard, said it stopped being fun to go to downtown Ballard when you could no longer pull into an angle spot right in front of Woolworth's.

Sometimes it takes a sprained ankle or knee surgery for many of us to realize how insurmountable distances can seem, without even knowing what it will be like when we are older and less steady on our feet. Do you realize how heavy wheel chairs can be?

Classic Consignment guards their spots. The Ballard Health Club staff check the cars parking in their spaces against club members currently logged in at the club. Art stands out in the elements at Bartell's most days of the week overseeing the growing madness of too many drivers and too few parking places. I've played the circling game in the parking lot below the Ballard Library and I don't go down there any more.

Make a note of the date, December 21, 2007. The chain link is going up and it will be up for a LONG time. Litter will accumulate on the other side and Ballard's best ambassador against litter, Jeanette Plutchik, will be only as effective as her grabber allows her to be through the fence. Parking abuses will fan out as though it's a game of dominoes. Just in time for the final shopping days.

Also on this date in Ballard, a DJ from KMTT-103.7 will be at Habitude from 11-1 p.m. today. Why???

It's the Holiday Party at Ballard Community Center from 6-8 p.m. with "special guest." I just hope their version of the special guest (with whom you can have a photo taken) isn't as scary as the Easter Bunny was one year.

It's Friday before the holidays and Monday probably won't be much of a work day unless you're in retail. I recommend that you leave the automobile parked and go with the feet instead.

Happy Holidays!

P.S. I exceeded my Undriver's License goal and just managed to go four weeks between fill-ups, and I haven't gotten a parking ticket in over three years!