Winter in D.C. brings some doldrums, including very little snowfall and some very uninspiring professional sports teams. A ray of sunshine, though, breaks through via an annual Department of Public Works ritual: Suspension of the alternate-side street sweeping program and the associated halt of ticket-writing for street-sweeping infractions. In other words, a respite from those Sunday evening panic attacks—Shit, my car is on the south side of Corcoran!

This year, according to DPW spokesperson Linda Grant, the parking free-for-all will start on the week of Dec. 1. Grant says the department will send out notices in anticipation of the suspension. But hey DPW, don’t spread the word too far and wide—it’s always nice when clueless motorists operate under the pretense that the rules are in effect, leaving huge curbside gaps for the rest of us. Best to keep the updates to undertrafficked blogs.