Car Parking is a Gender Issue

My apologies for the delayed blog. I have endured another period of 'gardening leave' following a misunderstanding when the Chair of the friends group handed me a wad of cash saying, "Here is a fundraising donation for you." I was touched by the regard with which I am held in the organisation and immediately bought myself a new set of golf clubs. At the subsequent disciplinary hearing I convincingly argued it was a genuine misunderstanding - that 'you' has a very different meaning  from 'your museum'. As a precaution I enlisted the help of my Russian mafia girlfriend to construct a 'convincing' argument (by way of thanks I paid her from a couple of spare coins out of the numismatic collection).

Anyway after a month of leave I'm back at work and my handicap is down to 18.

Now to the main point of the blog - women only car parking spaces. 

My research has yet to discover the world's first car parking space (my money is on the USA), but I have discovered the rise of women only car parking spaces. Disabled spaces and parent/child spaces are commonplace in the UK but I have yet to see a 'women only' space. It seems that in some German states 10% of spaces must be designated for women. These are near entrances, security guards etc. This makes sense in terms of safety, although statistically a woman is in more danger in her home and only 1 in a thousand crimes in car parks are sexual assaults. But it seems a progressive move and if we can get that figure for sexual assaults down to 0 in a thousand then they will be worthwhile.

Another country blessed with this foresight is China. Although rather than having a sign, it seems they have gone for wider spaces in different colours for women. They have taken to heart the statistic that women cause twice as many collisions in car parks as men, rather than that of violence inflicted on women in public places. So this appears to be a safety measure for men rather than women. 

However it is Korea that seems to be the true home of the women only car parking space. The Seoul city authorities have painted 4,929 spaces pink with the thinking that women in high heels should not have to walk as far to their destination. So car parking is a fashion issue in Korea. Perhaps they could develop this initiative by having minimum heel sizes closer to entrances. Perhaps having the highest heel spaces closest to a first aid station.

Quite what this all says about the difference between Chinese, Korean and German societies I'm not sure - but I applaud the idea as both a safety and fashion issue.

What would a 'men only' space look like? My guess is it would have a minimum parking speed and be exactly 1 inch thinner than the average car width. But wait! It seems the German town of Triberg has already introduced the first men only spaces, which are apparently much more difficult to manoeuvre into than 'normal' spaces. As a man I'm up for that challenge!

So imagine a future with car parks containing multi coloured spaces in different shapes and sizes with different footwear regulations.

 That is a world I would want to live in.

Please send me photos of any car parking spaces worth preserving for posterity at museumofunreason@gmail.com

Time for the Ecomuseum Museum?

Another week another museum closure. Another week another book shop closes. Another week in the gradual erosion of our cultural assets. This must stop.

What happened in the wake of the collapse of our industrial base? Industrial museums. Open air museums began to celebrate a past that had gone forever. The problem now is that museums are closing as part of a general cultural contraction.

It seems that the only place where there is an expansion in museums is China where the ecomuseum concept is buoyant. What is an ecomuseum?

"An Ecomuseum is a dynamic way in which communities preserve, interpret, and manage their heritage for a sustainable development." Trento declaration 2004

Now is the time for 'The Ecomuseum of the Late Twentieth Century' in the UK.

Does anyone know of a High Street where a book shop still exists, perhaps next to a record/music shop, next to a butchers, next to  a publicly run museum, next to a post office? Need I go on. That is prime real estate for an ecomuseum. The Museum of Unreason will happily engage the inhabitants to let them know they are now all museum curators of their own ecomuseum and as such they must:

1. Go to a shop to buy things - buying on line is forbidden
2. Shopping must be done on foot, a bicycle is allowed, in line roller blades are not.
3. Supermarket shopping is banned (make sure your grandchildren are able to ask the question, "What was a Walmart?")
4. Buy music in vinyl if you they are over 40, under 40 cds are allowed
5. Read one book a month, a book is something made of paper that you turn pages of text to see what happens next
6. Send letters and receive post delivered by the Royal Mail (or if in USA send and receive mail delivered by the Postal Service)
7. Go to a phone box to make a call if you need to contact somebody when outside your house
8. Know the first name of your grocer, baker, butcher etc.

The High Street museum can then concentrate on what it does best - animatronic dinosaurs and tenuous links to Jane Austen TV adaptations.