Where Did You Park It?

6pm. LouLou called. I had just got comfortable on the couch and I didn’t answer my phone. It wasn’t LouLou, I just didn’t feel like talking to anyone. The fire was burning, I was warm. Then she called Sam, and fortunately he answered. She was upset.

She had been to the dental hospital. She had parked her car in a paying car park and she couldn’t find the car park when she came out. She had been looking for it for a two hours, with multiple people trying to help her, but they couldn’t find it. She was distraught. 

“I might be turning up at your place in a taxi very soon.”

“Okay,” I said. “But you still have to find your car.”

“Yes, yes, I know that.”

“Do you want me to come and get you?”

“Yes, I would love that.”

I so didn’t want to do that, really I didn't. Not that I minded, because I didn't. I didn’t want to go, though, it was cold, it was dark out, but what can you do? It’s awful when you are in that position where it all just seems hopeless and you feel like you are never going to prevail. I haven’t felt that way for I don’t know how long, but I remember the feeling. All you need is a little help from a friend to help you out of the situation. Just a hand from a buddy who can just solve the unsolvable problem for you. That situation, when you just need a friend. Sometimes you just have to be that friend.

LouLou's sense of direction is so poor I sometimes wonder how she gets through life.

6.33pm. I get to cnr Faraday and Cardigan Streets. LouLou is on the corner, in a panicked state.

She gets in the car. Her eyes are red and she's looking a bit bunnies-in-the-head lights.

"Thank you so much for this."

"You okay?"

"No, not really."

“So, what clues do you have?”

“None,” said a clearly distressed LouLou. This is starting well, I think.

“Any clues at all?” I ask.

“No.”

“Well, we should drive to the dental hospital, you know, start retracing your steps.”

“Okay, yes.”

“So, anything that you remember?”

“My note said I came out onto Cardigan Street.” LouLou is a manic note writer.

"Oh, okay." So, we drove up Cardigan Street until we came to a car park.

“Is that it?”

“No, it wasn’t lit up like that one.”

“But didn’t you get here in the day light,” I say.

“Yes, true,” says LouLou.

“What else can you remember.”

“Nothing. No. I have walked all over the place. I don’t know.”

"Do you have a ticket from the carpark?"

"No, I just used my credit card."

“Let’s drive around to the dental hospital.” We drove down Swanston Street in a southernly direction.

“When you first approached the dental hospital today, what direction did you approach it from?”

“This direction?”

“So, the carpark should be behind us then.”

“Yes, I guess.”

“What do you remember about the car park itself?”

“There was a black box against which I had to put my credit card. And I turned around to the left to park my car.”

“Was it multi-story?”

“Yes, it was, but I parked on the ground floor, I didn’t change levels from the street level.”

We stopped at the next car park, just to check it out, but no, that wasn’t it. No black box, and the driveway went straight underground, I deduced from what LouLou had already told me, she could only suggest the lack of black box.

“No, it doesn’t have the black box as you drive in.”

So, we drove back to the first car park we saw in Cardigan Street, which seemed to me to be roughly in the correct location given the clues LouLou had given so far.

“Go in and have a look,” I say.

LouLou went in very tentatively and had a look from the front area, she gazed in for the longest time, so I thought it wasn't it, but then she could see her car and she gave the thumbs up. She came back and got her bag and thanked me for my help.

I waited outside for her to come out, which took an inordinate amount of time. She eventually did come out, not really sure if she realised I was waiting, as we had already said good bye. Later, she would tell me she sat in the car to calm herself.

Job done. I wasn’t sure what all the other helpers had done but, of course, I had the advantage of having a car in which to drive around. I was home before 7pm. Really, it didn’t even take me an hour.