Creative pre-emption

Living and parking space in Dubai comes with a heavy premium. Do you, like me, feel that as the years go by there’s less and less space? In my experience the quiet, spacious residential neighbourhood I’ve lived in for the last three years has changed considerably.

There’s new construction going on to the north, south, east and west of where my family and I live. The large open space in front of the building where children played until their parents gathered them up is now a parking lot.

It’s a lot noisier. Not the pleasing sound of children happily shouting but construction noises, large pick- up trucks and dumpsters running their engines loud in the middle of the night and the cacophony of traffic.

To add salt to my already irritated wounds I find that in the building parking lot, the number of cars has also increased considerably and once-easy parking has become a to and fro exercise that tries my patience every day because the space available is only fit for smart cars.

Last week, however, I found out I had a new neighbour.

It was the scratches on the driver’s side of my car that alerted me to the fact that I had never seen the Honda parked alongside my car before. Well, tiny spaces notwithstanding I’ve always been very careful to squeeze out the door so there was never any touching of doors and I was clearly irritated that the same courtesy was not returned.

On Tuesday, however, I could not stop laughing at the very creative manner in which my neighbour ensured I would never rant at him.

I found a note with a package attached to my door handle. The note said: "This is from the Honda Guy. Please use and oblige and have a great day."

The package contained a pair of protective door buffers which I promptly used.

My laughter turned to respect for a man who, knowing there would be trouble, pre-empted the situation by providing a win-win solution for both parties.

He will never scratch my car again. I will never think of scratching his eyes out again.

The experience has got me thinking on how much rancour I can avoid in my daily life by employing a little lateral thinking.

Creative space management is first on my list.