Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Snowy (sort of)

"You know," I said to some friends when I visited the frozen north, "in the south? We wouldn't leave our houses in weather like this." I swept inches of fluffy snow off my roof and windows before departing to obtain bagels and precious coffee. Large flakes fell from the sky and coated everything mobile. Stationary objects had long been blanketed in white and I looked out at them once I'd entered my freezing car.

"It's almost uncivilized," I groused, shaking my head at how cold I was and the fact that my coat and gloves were become wet as the snow that covered me began to melt. I drove slowly, taking my foot off the accelerator often to coat through slippery spots. When it came time to turn left, the person behind me honked at my lack of haste and extreme care.

"I know," I said. "Sorry. I'm out of practice. But everyone would have stayed home in the south - we would not have had this problem."

"Oh," I said this morning when I shuffled down the hall, "it did snow." Friend had mentioned that it was snowing in town and there was the barest dusting of white in my neighborhood too. The snow hasn't yet melted, instead forming patterns on the rooftops and nestling at the base of the grass that has remained green. It's pretty, though not at all impressive.

And - like the civilized southerners they are, traffic has been sparse as I've watched out my window where a continuous stream of cars should be and schools are all closed. Though I'm eager to depart this particular region, I will miss many things when I go. Waffle House. Walks every morning, mostly in t-shirts. The utter glory of springtime and all the flowering trees and bushes. Manners and friendliness and gently drawling accents. And the awesome power of snow to make life pause, snuggle in and enjoy the emergency supplies we have stocked for such an occasion.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Snow makes life pause here too - it's just that we have to get 6 feet of it first. =)

- Anna

Estrella said...

I'm in the opposite situation, having grown up south of the Mason-Dixon line and currently attending school in a more northern state. I was really nervous about driving in the winter at first, but they take so much better care of the roads up here that (thankfully!) I've had no issues yet. I've grown rather fond of all the snow, even though I do miss the days when school was cancelled due to a *prediction* of snow. :-)

T said...

When it snows here every soccer mom in the city races around in their giant SUV's and are shocked when they go sliding through intersections. No matter how much snow, or how blistering cold it is, nothing gets canceled. I do tend to head to work later on these days, to allow time for other cars to act as snow plows that pack down the street to a drivable condition.

Locks said...

snow is fun....i went to college in indiana where we would get feet and feet of it, and nothing would be closed....nothing like baltimore where people are afraid to leave the house if it rains too heavily.

:S

Wayfarer Scientista said...

laugh! People always ask me 'What do you do when it's 50below zero?' and it's hard to explain that we do absolutely nothing different then we would do on any other day. Only you have to be careful because plastic breaks easily under those temps.

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