Walking In
Nov. 29th, 2006 12:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
liralenIt snowed last night. Nearly six inches and another four to come today...
... and I wasn't up to driving less than a mile in a still cold car, and sliding around a neighborhood that doesn't usually plow the streets until the snow is mostly going to melt anyway...
... so I borrowed a page out of![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ross_teneyck's journal and got on my Big REI Boots, my down jacket, my fur hat, and my Big wool scarf and stole John's fleece gloves and walked into work in the middle of the snow storm.
It's less than a mile, and with the scarf and sunglasses I could cut the wind and blown snow. It's also supposed to stop this afternoon, so that's good, too. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, though the boots are pretty heavy and it was a good work out. It helped, a lot, that they'd plowed most of the sidewalks and the whole of the path from the street to the plant. So the walkway on the company property was clear as a whistle. That was cool.
Colorado drivers, mostly, are pretty good about driving around here. Plus it's pretty much as flat as the rest of the mid-West once you're on this side of the mountains, so no real hills to deal with on the most part. Until you get the obvious transplant who thinks the white stuff is just pretty and tries to shoot a gap or doesn't seem to figure out that tailgating on ICE IS A BAD IDEA. Ahem. So I thought it's cool to just avoid all that. Plus, it is actually warm enough that I got hot in my coat and undid my ear flaps for part of the walk. That was fun.
... and I wasn't up to driving less than a mile in a still cold car, and sliding around a neighborhood that doesn't usually plow the streets until the snow is mostly going to melt anyway...
... so I borrowed a page out of
ross_teneyck's journal and got on my Big REI Boots, my down jacket, my fur hat, and my Big wool scarf and stole John's fleece gloves and walked into work in the middle of the snow storm.It's less than a mile, and with the scarf and sunglasses I could cut the wind and blown snow. It's also supposed to stop this afternoon, so that's good, too. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, though the boots are pretty heavy and it was a good work out. It helped, a lot, that they'd plowed most of the sidewalks and the whole of the path from the street to the plant. So the walkway on the company property was clear as a whistle. That was cool.
Colorado drivers, mostly, are pretty good about driving around here. Plus it's pretty much as flat as the rest of the mid-West once you're on this side of the mountains, so no real hills to deal with on the most part. Until you get the obvious transplant who thinks the white stuff is just pretty and tries to shoot a gap or doesn't seem to figure out that tailgating on ICE IS A BAD IDEA. Ahem. So I thought it's cool to just avoid all that. Plus, it is actually warm enough that I got hot in my coat and undid my ear flaps for part of the walk. That was fun.
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no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 07:30 pm (UTC)I envy you your drivers who comprehend driving on snow and ice. Around here, we don't. (Not that I'm any better, mind you; but at least I know my limitations.)
Of course, out in places that are used to real snow, they tend to go out and salt the streets as soon as it's icy. Not so much, here. That also makes a big difference.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 08:05 pm (UTC)They don't actually salt around here. But they do have a lot of good plowing equipment and lots of sand and a melting solution that does work like salt but doesn't corrode the same way salt does. So that helps a lot, yes.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 08:00 pm (UTC)I'm not as confident of the abilities of every other driver on the road. Especially here in Seattle, city of transplants, where driving styles from across the country clash with some of most godforsaken traffic bottlenecks known to man.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 08:07 pm (UTC)Seattle has some of the worst terrain for snow I've EVER seen. Those steep hills, plus snow doesn't happen very often so the cities themselves don't have the budget to have the equipment to deal with it. So a Snow Day or two a year, where everyone just gives up and takes the day off is a very good thing. :-)
no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 10:00 pm (UTC)Hmm, what am I forgetting?
I've been telling Donna since we moved to Maryland: "Snow I don't mind too much. Snow, I can handle. At least you can get some traction on snow. Ice, on the other hand, is Not Good." Ice fills me with dread, especially if its black ice and you don't see it coming. Feeling the car skid under you enough times will do that. Will take a snowstorm over an ice storm any day of the week.
I'm especially not looking forward to driving in ice with Maryland drivers, who are reckless but don't have the skills to back it up. L.A. drivers were aggressive, but there was also a lot more road politeness than you get around D.C.
no subject
Date: 2006-11-29 10:20 pm (UTC)