Posted by noa on February 17, 2003, at 15:04:20
Ok, sitting here at my computer, I can see out the window where one or two of my neighbors have been out there digging out their cars. For HOURS!! It is monumental! My car is just barely peeking out from under a huge drift. The doors are completely blocked.
There is no way I am going to even attempt this today. If my work is open tomorrow, I am going to take two busses and a train to get there rather than attempt this dig-out.
Here is the sitch: we are parked perpendicular to the curb, in what is essentially the shoulders of the road--ie, private parking, but not in a parking lot. Aside from the 2+ feet of snow and the 4 feet drifts, there is also the wall of snow behind the car from the municipal snow plow clearing the street. To remove the snow, you have to sidle back and forth to dump the snow onto the curb so you aren't dumping it onto other cars, or in their path. Thank goodness I now live in a civilized development, where people are doing this, as a few years ago, I lived in a development where people simply dumped the snow on the next car!!
I remember in a big storm in the mid 90's, going out to my car in the parking lot, to assess the situation, and standing there flabergasted, watching the guy in the next spot shoveling snow directly onto my car!! I said "hello", and, not letting on that it was my car he was dumping on, I asked something like, "Wow, I wonder what that person would say if they knew you were shoveling snow right onto their car?" He looked at me and shrugged indifferently. Then I said, "well, don't you think they might be a tad angry?" Another shrug. "Well as a matter of fact, I AM that person, and I want you to stop shoveling it onto my car now!" He doesn't look at me but says, "there is nowhere else to put it". So I told him he has to carry it to the curb like other civilized people. Then he just ignored me. Is this not the personification of a total A*hole?
I was just not in the mood to follow up on it. And, as it happens, lucky me, it was the only time in my life that I have actually owned two vehicles at the same time--a temporary overlap. My other car was in a better spot, with more civilized neighbors on each side, so I dug that one out. Really what happened is that I decided not to dig out and to take public transport . The next day, when I got home, I saw four 12-year-olds with shovels marching around looking for work, so I hired them to dig me out. I still ended up using public transport for a few days because where I worked at the time had no parking lot, and on-street parking was not at all possible because the snow had not been removed.
But wathcing these folks today doing this grueling work, and how long it takes, yikes, I can't get myself to think about doing it.
Ok, whilst I write this, I see two guys who have just come out to dig a car out of a drift even bigger than mine! But they have the advantage of being parallel parked across the street, so they can just throw the snow to the side, not having to do the back and forth thing. Besides, there are two of them and they are clearly much better at the shoveling than I am. Even with this advantage, I see that although they have seemingly dug the car out, they are still having difficulty getting it out of the space--spinning tires and all.
Oh, how lucky you warm-climate folks are right now!!
OTOH, in a previous, much more moderate snow storm, I was out shoveling and it was a great neighborhood social thing, and I met a neighbor I didn't know and am glad I know now.
Wow--it's a buzz out there now--the dog walkers and shovelers and even one or two parents with toddlers playing. And NO cars traveling! Early this am I saw someone on cc skis, which looks like fun--it is a good time for it, with very little to non-existent traffic.
OK, I think I will wait--it is supposed to get warmer tomorrow and in the next few days, even up to high 40's (F), while now it is in the low 20's. If I need something, I can walk to the bodega on the corner. I drank up my spring water and the supply is in a case in the trunk of my car, so if I get sick of tap water--ok, how spoiled am I?--it'll prbably be easier to walk the couple of blocks than to try to get to the water in the trunk!
poster:noa
thread:201200
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030215/msgs/201200.html