I was pretty bummed last winter when we got nary a flake of the white stuff. I used to grumble over the snow like a lot of Seattleites (we have a bad rep for not being able to deal with ice/snow, but that’s mainly because this city is basically hill after hill), but due to where I live now, and how I commute, as long as I have a little advance warning that snow is coming, I’m good to go. My condo is within walking distance of my bus stop, a movie theater, a Target, a grocery store, my bank and even my doctor and haircut place.
Anyway, it snowed off and on for several hours yesterday (Sunday). This time, it did make me a bit anxious, as I had early-evening dinner plans, and then would have to head downtown straightaway to meet up with a bunch of folks and see the semifinals of the Seattle Comedy Competition (for which I’d already bought a $19 ticket). My back-up plan was to bail on the dinner and bus downtown, though that wasn’t super appealing as the later it gets, especially on a Sunday night, the less often my bus runs. Thankfully, the snow never stuck yesterday, and had tapered off completely by the time I headed out for the evening’s activities around 4:45. Both the outings were a lot of fun!
I’d heard it might snow overnight, so when my last alarm went off this morning around 6:30, I bounded over to the window and looked down to my building’s backyard. Sadly, I didn’t spy any dusting of white. But 30 minutes later, after I’d gotten out of the shower, I peered outside, and dang if snow wasn’t coming down steadily — and sticking! I thought about e-mailing my team and saying I’d work from home, but I already had my contacts in at the point, my bus looked to be on its normal schedule and finally, being that it’s a short week due to Thanksgiving, I figured I’d venture on in. Plus, I was really eager to have a chilly, snowy walk to the bus stop (in my Sorels, of course, plus my long, down coat with faux-fur trimmed hood!).
The bus was on time, pulling up to the stop with the crunch-crunch of the chains on the back tires (though there was only maybe 1/2″ of snow on the roads). We took a detour to the main road by going around the block, and then all of a sudden, some dude went up to the driver and asked to be let off. So she pulled over, and the dude, plus to other folks, piled off about four blocks from where we’d all piled on. The driver, hilariously, called out “Chicken!” as they stepped off. Two blocks later, some chick did the same routine.
The next mile or two to the freeway on-ramp was a bumpy ride, especially when the bus got up to 20-25 MPH, as the chains didn’t have much snow to bite into on the road. I was submitting some Words With Friends words on my phone (basically Scrabble), and my letters on the screen kept shuffling due to the bus’ motions — usually you have to give the phone a good shake to cause that shuffle!
So now we’re about halfway to my office, when we’re usually there by now. There’s basically no snow on the road here on the freeway (except between the lanes and on the shoulders), but there’s the usual rush-hour traffic compounded by folks driving slowly and our bus not being able to drive full-speed due to the chains.
The snow is still coming down, though the flakes are maybe half the size they were an hour ago. (Oh, and one more person just got off the bus.) I’m hoping it keeps falling so I can get in another snowy walk this evening.
That's What She Said 