Yesterday, I have completed my first paper - business strategy. Honestly, I think I did pretty OK. I wrote quite alot and I feel the lecturer should mark me up for my efforts. But, that is beside the point. My entry today is about my plight with car park charges.

My paper is scheduled at 2pm yesterday. I did not want to rush, so I made an effort to wake up early so I could make my way down to school at around 11am to run through the final points of my revision. My parents were away and so the car was mine to drive of the whole day. The only foreseeable concern was that my school is in Orchard. So, being a prudent individual about cost saving, I googled for the cheapest carpark rates in town.

It is a 3hr paper, and being myself, I knew I would use every last minute scrabbling my answers away. So I would probably leave school at approximately 515pm to 530pm. On top of that, I have also made plans to meet up with a friend in town for dinner and shopping. Which, I safely assumed will last till around 9-10pm.

Rough estimate: I would probably be in town for around 10hrs

So, I went on to search though the list of places and charges, highlighting those with a per entry charge. There were a few considerations. I am to be in town as early as 11am, but yet most carparks that graciously offer per entry parking, do it only after 3 or 5pm on Saturdays. There was only one place on the list to have a $4 per entry “round the clock” on Saturday - Wheelock’s Place. So I chopped chopped packed my bags and made my way over there.

Before entering Wheelock’s, I entered the URA public carpark behind Far East Shopping Centre to test market. Incredibly, in the mass of parking lots opportunist lurking around, I found one. I entered the lot and begun to dig at my coupons. And then, I thought: “since I am going to be in town for so long, might as well park at Wheelock’s at $4, coupons will need to be around $8 based on my time judgment”.

I wheeled out and entered the Wheelocks, with a level of satisfaction and thus NOT LOOKING AT THE PARKING RATES.

When I left the barrier gantry at around 930pm, I was charged $25. Apparently, they had recently changed the carpark rate. 1st hr: $2, subsequent 1/2hr: $1

I repeat. $25

And on my way back to Wheelock’s, I got hit by bird shit. I still thought that was a sign of good luck.