Abu Dhabi has a parking system that (mostly) works really well. You can set up an online parking account and then when you park, you just send a text to Mawaqif and presto, you’re paid up. I’ve never had any problems, at least until the other day. I parked, did my text-n-pay, but when I finished my errands, I discovered a little parking violation ticket (PVT) tucked under my windshield wiper.

I went to the parking office (there is one in almost every mall), filed an “appeal” and then today I got this text message:

Whoohoo, I win!

And then a little while later, I got this message:

Whoo…hunh?

Clearly the system has a few kinks.