It's a holiday weekend and my grandson is visiting for our annual surf camp trip. He's itchin' to surf... but it's a holiday weekend. What's worse is there is a marathon from Ojai to the beach which ended at the Fair Grounds. And the course goes down our road so if we want to go somewhere we've got to go out of our way a good 6 miles unless we wait 'til after 10 a.

About 10:30 or 11:00 I tell Merrick the race has passed so let's go down to the point and try our luck at getting a place to park. There was a little south swell maybe we'd get lucky.... and we did.

When we pull into inside point there were no other cars on the street looking to park and the very first parking spot was empty, we pull in. Suited up and went out. It was a bit crowded in the lineup but not terrible. After an hour the crowd thinned out. I counted only 8 people at one point. Merrick had a good time and so did I.

When we got back to the van and started getting out of our suits the fun really started. There must have been 4 cars waiting for a parking space. Across from us there were 2 cars getting ready to pull out making their space available for those waiting. Just when one of the cars pulls out a guy pulls around the corner and snakes one of the guys that had been waiting. I turn to my grandson and say "looks like there's going to be a fist fight over this deal", and there almost was. The sparks started to fly but after some heated exchange the guy that had snaked the spot got back in his car, pulled out and left. I think his wife was telling him he'd taken advantage and that she was not happy about what he'd done.

Usually on nice days and when there is surf the inside point parking is jammed up. But, most people that park there to surf know the parking protocol. You wait your turn and hope every other car that comes down the street will be considerate and wait their turn too.

But hey, it was a holiday weekend... 

D.R.