"There in 5, just have to find a parking space first!" said a text from a friend.
I know what this means. The chances of finding a parking space near our apartment on a busy weekend night is slim and it might be closer to 15 minutes before my friend appears. But in truth, finding a free parking space in whole of Genoa is a real pain.
We don't own a car at the moment because it is more practical and less costly than having one. True, there has been moments when I wish we had a car, for example, when I am coming home from a supermarket with three bags instead of one, when waiting for trains which never arrive or not being able to drive to a beach in France at a moment's notice without planning well ahead and renting a car.
But if we had one, we would almost certainly also need a garage or "box" as it is more commonly known. These are not cheap: they cost anything between 50 000 to 120 000 euro to buy, providing that you find one in the first place. When buying an apartment, a box is not necessarily included in the deal either. Instead of sinking this amount of money just to keep the car out of the street, many people prefer to rent a parking space or a box. This is considerably cheaper, approximately 80 to 100 euro a month.
For the time being, owning a car is more trouble than it's worth for us, but who knows, one day we might be in a queue for a box...
