He just let it rip

Posted August 23, 2012

The other day I had to go to the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) to renew my parking permit.  Because parking in the lot of the PPA office costs an arm and a leg, I decided to try to find metered parking around the area.  After driving the around the block a few times, I finally found a spot.  If you know how some of the parking works in Philadelphia, you park your car, and then you go to the parking machine and pay for your parking.  As I’m pulling into the open spot, I see a man on the sidewalk, looking at his phone.  After pulling into my spot, I get out of the car and I noticed that he had moved only a few feet forward still looking at his phone.  He happened to be standing about a foot or two past the parking machine.  I went up to the parking machine to pay for my parking and the man didn’t know I was there.  How do I know he didn’t notice me?  All of a sudden I hear a loud noise.  It was the noise of the wind passing by.  It was so loud that if he were on the phone, the other person on the other line would say, “What was that?”  Right after he let it rip, he then noticed I was right behind him at the parking machine.  What did he do after?  He just moved right along, staring at his phone, not saying a word.  I would like to think he was a little embarrassed and didn’t know what to say but maybe he just didn’t care.  Who knows?  Oh well, it was outdoors and I didn’t inhale.  I’m still alive and life goes on.  Just another day in Philly.