Michael Regarding our parking situation: In San Francisco, a street sweeper truck comes by on most streets once a week. During this time, parking is not permitted, as the sweeper needs to pass through without obstruction. Therefore, it's important to always check the displayed street cleaning signs before parking your car. Each street has its own cleaning schedule. For example, on the east side of Church Street, where we live, it's Wednesday from 8 to 10 in the morning. On the west side, it's Monday, also from 8 to 10. On the north side of 23rd Street, it's Friday from 12 to 2 in the afternoon. On the south side, it's Tuesday, also from 12 to 2 in the afternoon. The street sweeper usually comes by right in the middle of the two-hour window, accompanied by some ticketing officers who issue $30 tickets for each parked car--but only immediately before the sweeper passes through. Once the sweeper has gone by, you can park again on that side right away, even if the two-hour period hasn't passed yet.

However, 22nd Street down to Church St is so steep at 31.5% that no street sweeper can drive there. And the trash rolls down the hill on its own! That's why you can always park there. However, parking your car at 90 degrees as required, and it'll end up sitting at a disturbing angle, and would likely tilt during an earthquake. If you go on vacation for a week, you need to find someone to keep moving your car around according to the schedule.

Since our car is often parked five minutes away from the house, I tend to forget exactly where it is. Who was the last person to come home with the car and when? Where is the parking spot this time? That's why Angelika once went through all the streets in the neighborhood, noted down the respective cleaning times, and manually created a nice plan that now hangs on our door. An oversized thumbtack always indicates where the car is currently parked at and whether the street sweeper is coming by today.

• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Car traffic in Silicon Valley
  	The Silicon Valley Railway
  	The Streets of San Francisco
  	Radar Traps
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• More topics you might be interested in:

  	Car traffic in Silicon Valley
  	The Silicon Valley Railway
  	The Streets of San Francisco
  	Radar Traps
  	Public Transportation
  	Dogs, Dogs, Dogs!
  	Muni Street Cars and BART Subway
  	News from the President