Tag: snow

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Winter Blunderland

This blog post comes to you from the Department of Snow-Related Complaints. Be forewarned that much whining and gnashing of teeth will follow.

Having grown up in San Francisco, I don’t think I’ll ever get used to snow. I do like the way it looks when I’m inside and I don’t have to go anywhere, but I am not a fan of driving in the stuff. My cute little Honda Fit doesn’t have four-wheel drive, and it’s not especially heavy, so it doesn’t do well in slippery, icy conditions.

When it snows, the street that I live on is usually the one of the last in my township to be plowed, and my next-door neighbor has a tendency to park his van on the street even though there is an ordinance requiring all cars to be moved out of the street when there is a snowstorm. As a result, when the plow finally makes it to our street, they have to plow around my stupid neighbor’s van, and the portion of the street in front of our driveway doesn’t get cleared.

This morning, before it began to snow, I took a picture of our neighbor’s van to see if it would be in the same place tonight.

When I got home tonight, I found that not only was the next-door neighbor still parked illegally…

…but the neighbors on the other side of the house were just as inconsiderate.

ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It’s Always Sunny…er, SNOWY…in Philadelphia

In December, a big winter storm blew through Philadelphia on the second day of the Philadelphia Singers‘ Christmas on Logan Square concert. An email went around to the singers announcing that despite bad weather conditions, the show would still go on. Singers and audience members alike were offered a special group rate at a nearby hotel, and we were cautioned to be careful getting into the city. My friend @ApatheticAlto and I agreed to share a hotel room because we both live quite a ways from the city, and we had to be back in the city the next morning for church.

That night turned out to be lots of fun. The concert was well-attended for blizzard conditions, and after the show a group of us singers went back to the hotel for some dinner and drinks. The next morning ApatheticAlto and I had breakfast at Little Pete’s diner before church.

Two weeks ago, warnings of another winter storm were blanketing the airwaves, and because we were involved in performances over the weekend when the storm was supposed to hit the hardest, ApatheticAlto and I decided to share another hotel room, this time for two nights.

Friday night was fun; going to the hotel bar after our performance and knowing we didn’t have to drive anywhere led to a little overindulgence, the effects of which ApatheticAlto acutely felt the next morning. Nevertheless, we had been invited to a waffle breakfast by some friends only 6 blocks away, so we bundled up and ventured forth into what looked Philadelphia if it had been transported onto the planet Hoth.

Most of the streets had not yet been plowed, and the snow fell quietly as we made our way through the drifts, sometimes walking on a well-salted, shoveled sidewalk, sometimes walking in a plowed street, and then finally giving up and tromping through the knee-deep snow. Once we arrived at our friends’ house, we decided we didn’t want to leave until much later in the day, because the snow was falling steadily, about an inch per hour. Later that afternoon, we found out that the orchestra canceled that night’s concert because the weather was so bad that SEPTA was closed and there was no way for even the orchestra members to get to the concert.

Though we were disappointed by the turn of events (cancellation because of force majeure means we didn’t get paid for the concert, and we still had to pay for two nights at the hotel), we made the best of our situation, and we all went out to dinner at an Italian bistro. I offered to sub for the other alto at ApatheticAlto’s church on Sunday, so I did make at least a little money while I was in town.

Since that storm two weeks ago, Philadelphia hasn’t really been able to dig itself out. Another blizzard found its way to our doorstep Feb. 9-10 (Tuesday and Wednesday), destroying my plans to go down to Baltimore and sing songs from my recital for composition majors at Peabody (I know, that sounds totally boring to you, but it was a big deal for me). It started snowing again last night, and as of the time I’m publishing this post, it hasn’t stopped. The weather people say it’ll be another 4-8 inches, which isn’t very good news in a town that is used to only a couple inches of snow a year. Luckily, my dinky little NJ township suburb has been doing a better job plowing its streets than Philadelphia, but operations seem to have ground to a halt because of the snow.

I don’t remember being as concerned about the snow when I went to school in Boston. Maybe it’s because the winters were always very snow-heavy, and people had learned to adapt. Perhaps I didn’t notice it as much because I didn’t have to drive in the stuff. But I have to say, I’m not much of a snow bunny, and these past two weeks have had both me and Ray pining for Hawaii in a big way.

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Crash

Yesterday, the airwaves were filled with dire warnings of a winter storm. It was going to snow, they said, but later it would get cold enough where everything would turn to ice. Now, I’ve weathered a many a winter storm since I moved to the East Coast back in 1992…in fact, my first storm was a Nor’easter in Boston that left the tree branches encased in ice. Beautiful, but very cold and very dangerous.

But until now, I’ve been fortunate enough to not have to drive in a winter storm. Usually by the time the weathermen are predicting the coming of the ice age, I am already well-ensconced in my cocoon of blankets, sipping on hot tea. Not so last night.

I was on my way from work to pick up a little dinner before heading into Philadelphia to sing the roles of Flora and Annina in La Traviata at the High Note Cafe, when I skidded on some black ice and ran into a telephone pole. But it didn’t end there; hitting the pole only sent me back into the street to end up facing the wrong way on the shoulder.

Now, before you start worrying, I wasn’t really going that quickly, so the impact was really not bad at all.  I’m fine, I didn’t hit anyone, and the car doesn’t even have a dent (you’ve gotta love those plastic Saturns!).  But it did shake me up a bit.

After making sure my car was, indeed, okay, I made my way SLOWLY to the place I was planning on grabbing some dinner.  I phoned Ray and told him what happened, and he told me I should ask whether or not the show was still on.  I had never thought of that.  Why would someone cancel a show because of weather?  And why would I not continue on my journey?  I mean, don’t they say “the show must go on” for a reason?  I inwardly guffawed, but I called the guy in charge just to make sure.

The show manager said there was no change, and that the show would go on.  He seemed concerned when I told him I ran into a telephone pole, but not so concerned, obviously, to tell me to go home.  I expected that reaction and ordered my food and studied my music.

About 20 minutes later, Ray called again and told me that NJ emergency management was telling everyone to get off the roads and go home.  He said I should call the show manager again and tell him I wasn’t coming.  Although I was loathe to do it, Ray convinced me by telling me the traffic was so bad that it would have taken me 2-3 hours to make the normally 30-minute trip in (and besides, he said, I was worth a lot more to him in one piece than any money I could have made on this gig).  I called the show manager, who was very clearly upset.  But in the end, he understood, and told me that depending on who showed up, they might just do a concert of highlights from the opera.  Good idea, I thought, as I packed up my things and started my journey home.

In the ten miles between the restaurant and my house, I don’t think I drove faster than 25 MPH.  It’s possible that when I got on the highway, I was cruising at 30, but that was definitely my top speed.  And when I got home, Ray told me he was happy I was safe, and I wrapped myself in my cocoon of blankets and sipped hot tea.