Free parking for stolen shopping carts

‘The Major’ is irked by a ridiculous Victoria city council ruling:

... I opened my beloved Times Colonist to read that city hall will build parking spots for shopping carts used by the homeless to prevent cluttering up the avenues ...

... To sum up: The only free parking spots in Victoria will be for stolen shopping carts due to the large number of them ... er, stolen.

... A dear friend of mine owns several up-scale markets carrying such items as the rare outflow mushroom or organic-bunny key chains.

He, at great cost, had special shopping carts built that allowed for giant cups of coffee to be held safely, with a small passenger seat for the heir apparent to swaddle in.

To walk with him through the streets is to hear the sound of castanets as his teeth begin to chatter at the sight of one of his carts being pushed through traffic by someone whose eyes are spinning like a fruit machine whilst carrying a small but equally perturbed friend.

Each cart cost $400 and much to his chagrin, his insurance company has long stopped taking his calls.

Victoria city council and the media spend more time worrying about and enabling the bad behaviour of the city’s dysfunctional underclass, than anything else. Parking for stolen shopping carts is one of the loonier examples. Then there’s free crack pipes, needle exchanges and camping in the city’s parks.