I am soooo pissed off!

I came home today after work, and because I was home early, I decided to take my car - which has been in the garage UNUSED since 3 weeks!!! – to get a few heavier things at the grocery store, since Orange-X was on his way back from the south of Switzerland and didn’t know if he’s make it before closing time.

So, I dropped a few things off at home and walked straight to the garage and hopped in the car, drove to the store, picked up what we needed, and walked by the passenger side of the car to get to the trunk to unload the heavy burden. As I passed the rear passenger door, I noticed small dents, scratches and white paint marks ranging from just before the door handle to the mid rear wheel. And not just 1, but about 7-8 of these scratches/dents!!! It is obvious that it was the rear door of a car that was opened and banged against my door. Damn! And it didn’t happen in the grocery store parking because I was parked beside the carts so there was no car beside me.

I immediately understood where it came from. For the past few months, O-X and I have noticed a white Volvo parking randomly in free spaces (I'm sure many others have, too), sometimes in the visitors’ parking, sometimes on free, but rented parking spots (like ours). Remember that I said “white paint marks”? That Volvo is the only white car in the lot and it’s often parked on the right of my car. What is it with people nowadays?!! Don’t they have any respect for other’s property or any sense of decency?? No note, no sorry, no nothin’! I’m fuming!!! I mean, you have insurance coverage for these type of things. I don’t know who the owner of that white Volvo is, but I’ll sure find out.

Look. My car is 13 years old (turning 14 next year) and I lived in the center of Basel for 3 years with nothing but public parkings on the street (we’re talking parallel parking here), close to bars and the red light district, so my car did suffer from a few scratches on front and rear bumpers from unknown, probably a bit drunk drivers, but come on! This is - I thought - a civilized neighbourhood and it’s a housing scheme where you'd expect people to be honest! It’s obvious that he’s/she’s from here, otherwise you don’t even get a key to the parking garage. So a) he’s damaged my (okay, old) car and b) he’s eventually not paying rent for his parking. I'll check on that.

OX and I will go back to the garage later this evening to see if the car is there again. Then, we’ll just leave a note asking to either call us or then come by. Tomorrow, we’ll call the agents to find out whether the license plate owners have a contract for a specific parking space or not. I’ll let Orange do the talking, because it’s safer that way. I just hope that the owner of that Volvo isn't a rude type of person. I don't want this to turn into a messy situation.

I’ll keep you in the loop. Next entry: the Salzburg Fortress (this weekend).

Update: OX found the Volvo parked next to my car again this morning. He checked his rear door and found red paint. We also found out who the owner of the Volvo is and will go by either this evening or tomorrow morning. BTW, the guy is paying rent for the parking, so that's one problem less.