Snow Day

Yesterday we were hit with a big nor'easter.  I had a class scheduled for the morning, and since we hadn't worked out a clear cancellation policy in advance, I made my way to the store to teach.  Fortunately, I did have one student (who was happy to get a private lesson), so my driving in wasn't totally in vain.  On my way over, my car skidded a bit, but it wasn't too bad.  I figured my drive home would be okay, since I had heard that the snow was going to drop off in the afternoon.  Boy was that wrong.

Around 2pm Hannah (the store owner) comes in from her lunch and tells me to go home right away, because we're now supposed to get 3" an hour for the next several hours.

The drive home was quite an adventure.  First, I got in the car and remembered that I was nearly out of gas.  I figured running out of gas on the side of the highway in a snowstorm sounded pretty horrible, so with wind whipping the snow all around me, I brushed off the car and made my way  s l o w l y  to a gas station.  I nearly got stuck in the entrance to the gas station, but mananged to get in.  At the pump the machine wouldn't read my card - it was probably too cold and/or wet.  I paid inside and ran back out to pump my gas.

Eventually I got on Rt. 95, and it was snowing so hard I literally couldn't see anything but white, and the tail lights of the cars ahead of me.  I followed them.  Slowly.  Breathing slowly, trying not to freak out.  I thought a lot about a book I'm reading, Time Shifting, which is all about slowing down and living in the moment.

My wipers kept caking over with ice and snow, rendering them ineffective.  After a while, it stopped snowing, but the roads were still very bad.  Traffic slowed to a stop as cars and trucks got stuck.  A few times, we were stopped so long that people were getting out of their cars and walking around.  (That's when I got out my knitting...)

I made it home in one piece, my commute, normally 20-30 minutes, having taken 2 1/2 hours.  But at least I was safe and warm!

When my father got home a short while later, he commented that this was the worst storm he had ever driven in.  That made me feel a bit better - if this is as bad as it gets, I can handle a New England winter.

Epilogue: this morning my father started shoveling our driveway (of which Scott had shovelled about 10') at 6:30am.  When I left the house around 8:30, he was still shovelling.  Think we should invest in a snowblower?

Comments

[julia fc]

Yes! You'll need it. It will either ward off snow because you paid goo dmoney for it (which is wort the price) or it will save your back. It's a win win situation. If this winter is anything like last winter . . .
Glad you're safe. Next time, come hole up here until the storm passes!

[ivete]

I'm glad you're ok! Driving in the snow is the worst, it scares me a LOT. I vote get a snowblower, too, my dad hurt his back shovelling snow more than once. . .

[Teresa C]

Good thing to be safe and warm! About the snowblower: Yes, definitely.

[Emy]

That must be a real bad storm! Lucky you had your knitting with you! :)