Parallel Parking

I took Duke to the hospital in Wollongong yesterday, which is about a half hour drive from where we live.  I've been with Duke once before and there is never any parking in the official car park so we go and find some off road parking instead.  The thing is, with Duke being like 35 weeks pregnant and it being very hot here in the land of Oz, we want to park as close as possible.  Last time I didn't do a very good job and we had to walk up a hill and everything!  This time I was determined to get Duke as close as possible.  The trouble is I'm not very good at parallel parking and so I look for nice big spaces to get into.  Preferably spaces which involve just driving up behind another car.  But this kind of behaviour got us too far from the hospital so I had to face my nemesis and tackle the parallel park.  If people had to wait for me, they had to wait for me.  I had a pregnant lady with me, damnit!  So I saw a spot, decided the x-trail I was driving would fit in the spot and set about getting my reverse on.  It was at this point I realised I hadn't attempted a parallel park in....well, years.  Certainly I've never done it in this particular vehicle and not since I've lived in Australia.  It's shameful really.  The x-trail isn't really a big thing to park but the side mirrors on it are just awful and make it hard to get any sense of space.  After a couple of attempts I wondered if perhaps the space wasn't big enough, though I was sure it was.  Duke hopped out of the car and set about directing me as I lurched back and forth, trying to shuffle the car into the space without hitting anyone elses car.  That's important you know.  I got myself into one of those Austin Powers moments, where the vehicle is kind of going backwards and forwards without actually turning.  I guessed I must have gone it at the wrong angle initially and didn't have enough room to maneuver.  In the end I was sort of in, sort of straight and sort of near the kerb.  Just not as near the kerb as the other vehicles were.  But there was loads of room for traffic to get through and arguably, Duke needed that extra space to get out of the car, what with her being heavily pregnant and all.  We justified the parking and headed towards the hospital.  It was at this point I realised I had an audience.  In the form of a man sat under a tree having his lunch.  He was staring at me as if to say, ha ha, you can't park.  And I can't blame him.  It was awful parking.  Just awful.  I must say though, whenever I have attempted parallel parking in the past, a long time ago, there's always been a man of some description watching and judging.  Normally they're sat in a white van.  And normally they have their arms folded and are shaking their head.  No pressure then!  Gah!  But it is bad that I can't parallel park.  I've been driving for a few years now, about 8 years actually, and really there's no excuse for my not being able to parallel park.  It's shameful.  I was ashamed.  I've already asked Mystical Roo for lessons.