Force of Habit and Fear

Today is Veterans Day -- a legal holiday on a Federal level. That means that banks are closed, district school buses are not running (though my children have school today) and that meters are NOT in effect. While the good people of Cedarhurst must be well aware of the first two items on the list, they show themselves to have forgotten the day with respect to the last item. On Central Avenue I took note and saw not a single meter without time on it. In the parking lot between Spruce and Washington the results were mixed with a few fed meters among the unfed. But the people parking on Central have been so trained by the sight of relentless metermaids (and one man) and the tickets slapped on the windshield the instant a meter runs out that they are afraid to risk parking without depositing their quarters.

I would guess that the group think effect is at work here. Someone may park and rejoice upon exit at being able to keep the quarter within his/her own possession. But then the parker will notice that both the car in front and the car in back show time on the meter. This will make the person doubt his/her own assumption about free parking today.