I searched through past blog posts and don’t see that we ever brought up the subject of “dibs”. Dibs are a highly controversial topic in Chicago in winter. This is the deal: when it snows a lot, cars parked on the street get all blocked in both from the snow that falls and from the snow pushed to the sides by snowplows. There is extra demand because before snowfalls people move their cars out of their garages because they know the alleys won’t be plowed and their cars will be stuck inside. Also, big piles of snow are everywhere, limiting parking spots. So after the snowfall, people have to dig their cars out of the snowy streets, and then feel like they own the street spot because they have invested labor in it. But it’s the street! Nobody owns it (or we all do?). People claim spots by putting things like garden furniture out in the shovelled spot. And then everyone, even mayoral candidates, argue about whether dibs are right or wrong.
The worst part is when you claim your spot but someone else “steals” it, throwing the lawnchairs to the side, and you lose a city-wide game of musical chairs. This happened Tuesday evening to Miles and I – we luckily found another spot nearby and parked our car there, and I didn’t move it again until yesterday! It’s interesting to see what people will use to claim a spot. A lot of times it’s cheap lawn chairs, but other times it looks like trash — empty cardboard boxes for example. This dib in front of our house looks like some kind of memorial to a laundry professional.
Our backyard looks like the scene of a snow party
Next door, Beatriz and Sergio’s backyard / parking space was also really snowed in, but they had help from a friend with a snowplow who dug out their parking space.
We had some really bright days recently, and I always like the view from our upstairs bathroom when the sky is clear and blue.
So what had you guys used to dibs your spot or had you risked going dibs-free? That is a really unusual but pretty view from upstairs!
Good question! I’ve just posted a dibs part two post: https://cndkmen.wordpress.com/2015/02/08/dibs-part-2/ 🙂
Didn’t fully appreciate the difficulties of parking and retaining your space following severe snow storms. Hopefully there won’t be a repeat of the severe weather for the remainder of your winter.
Thanks, we hope so too! Not sure why the situation seemed worse than usual this year! It is pretty much melted off the street so should be back to usual this week.
Someone taking a survey about the Chicago mayoral campaign called here a few days ago, hoping to get your opinion. I wish I had taken the call and engaged the person in a lively discussion about dibs.
Just checking: “dibs” is mostly used in the plural sense, speaking of all over Chicago, right? When a person puts lawn chairs or whatever in his or her parking spot, it’s a “dib,” singular. I love grammar.
Oh, that would have been a fun conversation about the mayoral campaign! The current mayor is pro-dibs. Another charming (haha, maybe) thing about “dibs” is that as a word it may exist outside of traditional grammar rules. It is always dibs, never dib. Here’s an article that not only explains the current dibs situation but also uses dibs as a singular subject… “Dibs is NOT a sanctioned practice in Chicago…” http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20150209/lincoln-square/goodbye-dibs-city-picking-up-junk-left-on-street-alderman-says After reading that I’d just like to thank all my neighbors for not being barbaric like the resident of Ukrainian Village who cut a car’s brake lines for parking in someone’s dibs spot! Here’s another great quote from that article: “Dibs is a perfect symbol of dysfunction.”