»In which we wager

This week we are betting not on the Belmont Stakes, the desirable third jewel in the Triple Crown, but on parking.

The beginner's bet is against a parking meter: a few pennies, perhaps a quarter: that is your bet that you can finish the errand, the meal, picking up whatever, in the few minutes the city provides you in exchange for the coin.
The more advanced bet is against the painted kerb. Should you park in a red zone, a blue zone, a yellow-and-red zone, or a green zone, you are flirting with having the car towed.

The city's web site sternly warns: "MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES ARE NOT TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION." As for the tow: after several years of scandal around the various shady contractors engaged in the auto-reclamation trade, we have a brand-new downtown impound yard. I chuckle at the euphemistically-named Auto Return, the contractor that the city of San Francisco now has.

Some people are not very good losers in this gamble.