I have become what I beheld, or How I came to love the cone

The NaturalBlog household spent about two hours Sunday shoveling on the street, thanks to the Blizzard of '06. And you can be sure those parking spots will be marked with some cheap outdoor furniture, and possibly an old broken hamper when we leave the house.

Time was, I would rail against those who marked the public streets with cones and barrels and the like, as they saved parking spots after a heavy snowfall. "How dare they!" I would shout. "The hubris -- to claim for themselves what rightly belongs to all, this public way!"

I beseeched the mayor to use his authority to stop the practice, but wouldn't you know it now that he finally has, I've gone over to the other side.

Yes, I am a spot-saver of the worst kind but it's not my fault. Or not all my fault, anyway.

The trouble is everybody else is doing it. So if I'm the only guy on the street not using a cone to save my shoveled out space, it means the jamoke who wanders into the neighborhood will have only one spot to take: mine.

I am not proud -- but I couldn't beat them, so I joined them.