I was on my way to catch the bus home this Friday, when I noticed a strange parking spot in front of a building. Quickly, I pulled out my mobile phone’s camera function and snapped a shot. The image is below. Take a very good look at that photo.

First of all: yes, that’s a parking meter on the right. In fact, it’s a dual-headed parking meter, so it belongs to the parking spaces both to the left and to the right of it.
And second: that red and green pole-like thingy is a fire hydrant. Now, keep in mind the international rule about parking near fire hydrants.

My first question is: what the hell were they thinking when they were planning out the parking spaces in front of this building? And second: did they plan to charge for both the parking meter and the parking ticket for being too close to a fire hydrant?

You can’t even blame this on Americans. This is a local shot. In Norway. Crazy.

By the way, if you’re ever in Norway and plans to stop by Aalesund (or even if you live there), the building shown is the fairly new one right next to the animal shop in Keiser Wilhelmsgate 7 (across from the downtown bus station). I took the photo from the somewhat larger parking lot on the south side of the building, in case you ever get around there. Maybe the parking blooper is still there when you see it? Who knows when it comes to politicians?

[EDIT, Thu April 28]:
Here are a couple of more shots of where the parking spot above is. First up is taken from a different angle, and a little closer so you can see the madness better.

See? And here’s a distant shot with the spot and a “landmark” nearby so you can visit the location yourself.