No Parking G3p07

 No Parking

Oliver Langley lived in a house in Wilton Street, less than two miles from the office. He was therefore able to drive home every day for lunch.

Driving his car slowly round the corner into Wilton Street one day, he looked sharply at the road outside his house. As he had feared, cars were parked there as usual, and there was no space for his own. It always made him angry, because the road was a little wider just there, with plenty of room for a car or two. But other people had noticed that too.

Further up the street there were no parked cars at all: there never were. The usual blue board stood at the side of the road with the usual information on it for all to see:

POLICE NOTICE

NO PARKING

He drove round two more corners, found an empty space, locked the car, and walked back home.

Before entering the house, he stopped to look at the board he himself had put up in the garden facing the road. "No Parking", said the wooden board. No parking! What was the use of a bit of board like that? No one was interested in it. He decided to take it down; it was useless and ugly.

Lunch was ready when he went in, and he sat down at the table with his wife. "I wish we could build a garage in the garden," he said.

"We can," said Helena. "But the gate isn't wide enough for a car."

"We could make the gate wider. There's just enough room for a small garage. Then I could keep the car here at night, and at lunchtime I wouldn't have to drive half a mile looking for somewhere to park. I haven't been able to leave the car outside the house in the middle of the day for months."

"Nobody takes any notice of our board," said Helena.

"You can't blame them," he said. "There isn't anywhere else to park. Wherever you go in this town, you see a blue board with white letters on it: *Police Notice. No Parking*. Nobody can leave a car anywhere in the main streets, so they leave them here. But I hate to see the ugly things outside the house all day. I wish I knew a way to stop them."

"Our board's too small," she said. "Make a bigger one and paint the words in red. Then people will see it."

"They won't care, even if they see it. They'll obey a police notice, but not a private one."

After a short silence, Helena suddenly cried, "I've got an idea. Go out tonight when it's dark and steal a police notice. There are hundreds of them all over the town, and one won't be missed. Bring it here and leave it outside. No one will see you."

Oliver was shocked. "Steal from the police!" he said. "Oh, no, thank you. I'll be sent to prison."

"They won't know."

"They'll see it here and ask who put it here. Then I'll be in real trouble."

"Well," she said impatiently, "why don't you make a notice like theirs? There's no law against painting that I know, and you have lots of paint. Get a piece of metal or wood the same size, paint it blue, and then paint the same words on it in white."

"I can't use the word 'Police'. I'm not the police."

"You're being very difficult," she said. "You can easily leave that word out. Put: *Notice. No Parking.* But paint white letters on blue. Nobody really reads those notices, you know. People see the blue boards and go somewhere else."

"Be reasonable," he said. "If there's only one word in the top line, even a child will see the difference at once."

Lunch over, he left the house. But he was thinking.

For several days a smell of paint filled the house, and the smell was especially bad in the evenings, after Oliver had disappeared into the room beyond the kitchen. Neither of them mentioned the smell.

One night he showed her a new notice-board. It was painted in white letters on blue, it had four words, and it was exactly the same size as the police notices.

"Oh!" she said. "But you told me you weren't allowed to use the word 'Police'. That's exactly like their notice-boards."

"Is it?" he asked. "Look again."

She started to laugh. "You're really rather clever, Oliver, dear," she said.

He carried it out and placed it at the side of the road. With some satisfaction he stood back to look at it. He was quite pleased with what it said:

POLITE NOTICE

NO PARKING

1. Where did Oliver Langley live?

2. Where did he have lunch every day? How far was his home from his office? How did he usually go home for lunch?

3. Where did he usually park his car?

4. What made him angry one day? Could he park his car further up the street? Why not? Where did he park his car then?

5. Had he put up a board in his garden too? What did it say? Was it any use? Why not?

6. What did he tell his wife that he wished to do?

7. What did his wife suggest since their board was too small?

8. Why wouldn't people care even if they saw the board?

9. What was the idea that the wife thought of? Why was Langley shocked at the idea?

10. What did his wife suggest then?

11. Why couldn't Langley use the word "Police" on his board? What if he left the word out?

12. What did the new board say? Were they quite pleased with it? Why?