Photo of the Day II: Parking in Blacksburg, a Guessing Game

I was in Blacksburg yesterday for lunch with a colleague and parked on the street in front of Gillie's (one of my favorite restaurants). I remembered that the last time I was in the 'Burg, a couple of weeks ago in a driving rain storm, I had parked and not noticed there was a parking meter. We don't have them in Roanoke, so it's not something I look for. Cost me $25, which I thought excessive, but I paid it before I left town.

This time I noted the meter, went into a business and got some change for it. I got back and discovered what you see above. I couldn't see the inside workings, so I had no idea how much time I had on the meter and couldn't figure out how much it cost to park. My guess is that all that bad parking revenue goes into everything but clear parking meters. My other guess is that if I parked overtime and got a ticket, this photo would get the ticket thrown out of court ... unless B'burg has no concept of being fair, which I am sure is not the case.

I say all this because I went up and down the street examining the meters. They're all like this, so it's not an aberration.