How to avoid paying for a parking permit

We have an apartment!  Zurich Daddy Geek wanted to post about it and our other activities, but he's been busy with insurance, the movers, and oh yeah, work.  So, I'm patiently waiting for him to fill in the details on the apartment hunt, our day trip to St. Gallen, and our second trip to Mt. Rigi sledding.  

Last Thursday when we were in IKEA scouting out furniture so we could could sleep, eat, and sit we received a phone call from the movers in UK.  Unfortunately we didn't have enough minutes to call them back (we have a prepaid cell phone).  The Easter holiday slowed things down and ZDG didn't get a chance to call them back until Tuesday.  When he found out the truck was ready to deliver on Monday the 31st.  Or we would have to wait another 3 or 4 weeks.

After a phone call to the rental agency we found out that we would get the keys and be able to take possession of the apartment on Monday!  Stuff!  No bookcases, closets, or wardrobes to store it, but stuff nevertheless.  Although we only have 42 (or maybe 47 I can't remember now) boxes of clothes, toys, books, and sporting gear, it's being delivered on an 18 meter truck.  So now we have to figure out where to park it.

Today I went down to the central Zürich parking office to find out if we need a permit.  It turned out that we needed to contact the local police station.  With amazing foresight, ZDG insisted I take the cell phone, so I was able to call him with the phone number.  He called me back to tell me where it was and off I went.

For the most part I've been able to get away with very little German.  Usually when I ask "Sprechen Sie Englisch, bitte" the answer is yes.  However, today I was require to speak only in German and I survived.  At the police station I told them that we needed a parking permit for a moving truck (aka "ein sehr gross Auto" in ZMG-Deutsch).  However it turns out that they need more notice (at least a week) and/or there wasn't enough street parking to reserve for a moving truck.  I was hoping he wouldn't tell me we couldn't receive the shipment.  His solution was to contact the garage that was next to the apartment building and ask them if the truck could park in their parking lot.

So off to the garage where I ran into one of the managers.  I was pretty sure he didn't speak English so I just used my very primitive German and very slow talking to request parking in his lot (even though we didn't know what time it would be) and I'm pretty sure he said yes. 

Otherwise let's hope the movers can get those 42 boxes into the apartment before someone calls the police.