2000-01-27
Welcome to Snowbound: Day Three. This is really pretty great. This whole area is immobilized. It barely gets above freezing each day and what little melting occurs is all frozen by the next morning.
Yesterday we shoveled the driveway, using a garden spade, a garden rake, and a push broom. As we were almost finished, we finally got our turn with the one show shovel to be had among our immediate neighbors.
Today we ventured out onto the roads. The groovy health-food gourment store (the one who sells free-range chicken and veal) was smart enough to announce on the TV news that they were open from 11 to 4. Ostensibly this was to alert employees, but in our case it functioned as free advertising since we didn't know what stores were open. We made it there by 11:15 or so. Started out in the decimated produce section when it occurred to me that there might be a run on milk. I raced to the dairy section and got the last skim to be had.
Oh, the reason we decided to lay in more provisions: they are forecasting an ice storm for Sunday! We might be here another week!
Speaking of the closings listed on the TV news, yesterday B and I joked that he should call in the name of his (one-person) web design company. This morning I was looking at the TV station's web site and they said that only businesses employing 75 or more people were eligible to have their closing announced. I bought that until I joined B back in the living room and saw that Bill's Barber Shop was closed today. Either Bill is quite the enterprising barber or he's got an in at the station.
What have I been doing with this bonus time? Yesterday I finished up the work I wanted to do on the novel. (I've had that letter to the agent all addressed and stamped since Tuesday but apparently that little ditty about snow, sleet, rain, and hail not stopping the U.S. mail doesn't hold true during a state of emergency.)
I've been reading a great little book, David Shields' Black Planet. I picked this up last week at the library, seeing it on the New Non-fiction shelf and recognizing Shields' name from his really delightful Re-mote. Then this week it turns out it was short-listed for the National Book Award. He uses the form of the journal (just like us!) to talk about a sabbatical year where he focused most of his attention on professional basketball, specifically the Seattle Supersonics. It's a story about the spectator-athelete relationship but what's it's mostly about is the current state of race relations -- as observed by a Jewish semi-intellectual -- using pro basketball as a lens. Testimony to its effectiveness is that I, who could not care less about basketball if I tried, am having trouble putting it down.
And what else? Bundling up once or twice a day to walk the dogs. Enjoying the kind of friendly exchanges with people in the neighborhood that really only come during this kind of dramatic shared event.
Feeling a little anxious about whether I should be endangering myself by trying to get to work. There was actually some snow here last week as well (one or two inches, significant at the time but dwarfed by the recent clobbering). The roads didn't look great, but B offered to drive me since I'm a spacy driver under the best circumstances. Once we got on the highway, we realized our folly but he was reluctant to turn around.
Interestingly, almost the only people who showed up were those of us hired within the last six months or so. At ten, a couple of the big bosses emailed from home that we should all use our judgement about coming in. Some of us were less than pleased at the timing.
All this led to at a statement on Monday, at our monthly "town meeting" that our inclement weather policy, such as it is, is Use Your Judgement But Remember We Still Have Our Deadlines. In a way this makes sense, given the range of places people live, but it kinda makes you feel guilty for not taking your life in your hands to show up. I'm not going, and I've called my boss's office number a couple of times and gotten his voice mail, so I guess he isn't, either, but how hard would it be for them to do what my neighbor's company does and just close the office?
Blah, blah. This is my problem, really, to the extent that it's a problem at all. I'm mostly able to relax and enjoy this time off. But this attitude on my employer's part feels a little passive-aggressive to me. Does that sound insane? Well, so be it.
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