Summer's end means free parking

©2016 Lydia Hinshaw

If you've ever gotten a parking ticket, you'll like this picture

 YORK BEACH, ME -- It was a perfect morning Wednesday when we woke up in Wells, and headed south on Maine's version of Florida's A1A.

 In York Beach, we stopped for breakfast in a popular local spot that's been there for 70 years or more, and was still open when most nearby businesses had shut down for the season.

 Then we walked a block to the beach, and an oceanfront parking lot, where city workers were removing parking meters and lining them up in a truck-bed.  They'll likely spent the winter in a warehouse somewhere, until the beach-weather returns next year.

 The meters still on posts had had their innards removed, so that any coins put in the slot would roll right out onto the pavement below.

 A tourist with a southern accent like mine was searching her purse for change, until we pointed out that the meter was done working for the year.