Areas of Unrest

QOTD: "For fast relief, try slowing down." - Lily Tomlin

Reading: Marjorie Klein, Test Pattern

Listening to: nothing

Decluttering accomplishments: assorted household paperwork

23 February 2003 - Snow Days

By the time the storm we over, we had about two feet of snow. Which is enough to pretty much shut down the greater Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Schools were closed all week, but we got just one extra day off work. Much of which was spent in the Northern Virginia winter exercise program, otherwise known as shoveling snow. My complex has its own little plow, but we all have to dig out our cars ourself. The mechanisms used for that revealed quite a bit of creativity on the part of my neighbors. I saw plenty of dustpans pressed into action, along with broom and wastepaper basket combinations. The building office lends out shovels, so some of that innovation was unneeded. I managed to avoid straining my back and shoulders, at the price of sore thigh muscles. And it's not like I needed to do all that much - I didn't even use my car again until today. At which point I realized that we're going to face a particular challenge for weeks to come. Namely, seeing around snow piles at intersections.

Despite reports to the contrary, by the time we went back to work on Wednesday, the metro was running reasonably well. There were more crowds than usual in the morning, but not a lot more than usual. And the afternoon was tolerable. In fact, I got a seat right off at Rosslyn both on Wednesday and Friday, while I usually have to stand to around Ballston or so. The greatest annoyance is that nobody shoveled the sidewalk at the metro access road, so we'll all have to walk in the street for that one block until it melts.

The upshot is that, even with a blizzard, I'm still reasonably pleased to be living here. And, while everybody whines about how badly the D.C. area handles snow, I remember that Boston was even more inept during the blizzard of '78. The story back then was that they hadn't expected much snow and had lent much of the city's snow removal equipment to Buffalo, New York. We ended up with a week off and the assistance of the National Guard.

At least we're doing better than the nation of Nauru. Apparently, the entire telecommunications system of that South Pacific island has collapsed, leaving it cut off except when a ship with satellite phones comes by. This happened in the midst of presidential elections, so nobody is entirely sure who won. Not that it would help to know, since the presidential palace burned down, too. The country is also believed to be bankrupt. Now, that's trouble.

My own travel plans for the year are progressing, too. I got the photos I need for my visas and will be sending off the forms this week. Both Georgian and Armenian have fascinating alphabets, by the way - not at all what I would have expected. (Azerbaijan uses Cyrillic, so I'll at least be able to read street signs in Baku.) I've probably seen Armenian before, but assumed it was some Indian language. This is going to be very interesting - May seems way too far away.