{"id":6418,"date":"2023-12-14T16:10:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/bibliotheek\/driving-with-one-eye\/"},"modified":"2026-09-10T14:43:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-10T12:43:22","slug":"driving-with-one-eye","status":"publish","type":"library_pt","link":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/library\/kolommen\/driving-with-one-eye\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving with One Eye"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-post-date\"><time datetime=\"2023-12-14T16:10:00+01:00\">14 December 2023<\/time><\/div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Street Parking <\/em><\/strong><br \/>I saw only one tiny vacant parking spot on the right side of the road, right near the address I needed to get to in the heart of Amsterdam. It did take some effort to park my car neatly in there. I took my time and watched my moves carefully. I heard two cars honking behind me and saw a couple of construction workers watching with broad grins. It was a pretty stressful moment. To my immense relief, I managed to maneuver the car neatly into the spot in one go. As I got out, I heard a construction worker say, \u201cWow, that woman sure knows how to park!\u201d The smile on my face hasn\u2019t left me all day.        <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Parking Garages <\/em><\/strong><br \/>In parking garages, the trouble often starts as soon as I pull in, because my arm is too short to press the intercom button or grab a ticket. I unbuckle my seatbelt and carefully open the door so I don\u2019t bump into anything. When driving into the garage, I usually have to adjust to the lighting before I can start looking for a spot. While looking for a spot in a parking garage at a company in Gouda, I noticed that all the concrete pillars were wrapped in foam rubber mats in the same purple color as the company\u2019s logo. It looked cheerful, but it turned out to serve a practical purpose as well. The mats were covered in colored streaks of paint from the many cars that had bumped into them. Without hitting the mats or anything else, I parked my car. My client, who came over to help me park, paid me a huge compliment: \u201cJust look at that\u2014what others can\u2019t do with two eyes, she can do with just one.\u201d         <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Less successful<\/em><\/strong><br \/>Ever since I\u2019ve been seeing out of only one eye, my fear of heights hasn\u2019t gotten any better. That can be pretty tough sometimes, like in that six-story parking garage in Zeist. I drove into the garage looking for an open spot, but I didn\u2019t find one until the sixth floor, on the roof of the garage. When I got out of the car, I didn\u2019t feel well, and I shuffled, trembling, along a wall toward the open staircase in the glass stairwell. I started to panic because I didn\u2019t dare go down those stairs. Suddenly, a very large, broad man walked past me to go down the stairs. The man completely blocked my view! Without a moment\u2019s hesitation, I crept after him. I breathed a sigh of relief when I reached the ground floor! After the day\u2019s classes were over, my client asked where I had parked my car. And that\u2019s when I realized I\u2019d have to go all the way back up to get my car. I just didn\u2019t dare do that. I sheepishly told my client, and to my great relief, he said very kindly, \u201cWould you like me to go get your car for you?\u201d              <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Narrow Street<br \/><\/em><\/strong>My<strong> <\/strong>Kids like to joke about my poor eyesight and the stressful moments I have in traffic. One of them sent me a photo of his car in a very narrow street in Italy, asking, \u201cCould you get through this without damaging the car, Mom?\u201d I didn\u2019t answer.   <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Anita Hol-Bubeck<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Driving with one eye is quite exciting\u2014and a bit nerve-wracking. Even with all the modern aids in my car, like built-in cameras and parking sensors. I\u2019m extra careful around bike paths and sidewalks, when turning left or right on roads and at intersections, when entering and exiting roundabouts, and when parking and pulling out of a parking spot. Knock on wood: it\u2019s going well, but I do have the occasional moment of stress!     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6419,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_daextauttol_enable_tooltips":""},"library_cat":[112],"class_list":["post-6418","library_pt","type-library_pt","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","library_cat-kolommen"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt\/6418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_pt"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/library_pt"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"library_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ver-ooginoog.nl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/library_cat?post=6418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}