By the by, this post is in the Comedy category because there isn’t a Weather Category. Why not? Anthony?
UPDATE: Didn’t realize “The” could precede “Weather.” Anthony, please forgive me.
Meanwhile, the thing you all really oughta do in a blizzard (3-5 inches counts as a blizzard in Seattle, yes?): go out and have fun. Smell and hear and taste and see your city differently.
If you have a shovel, walk around and offer to clear sidewalks for neighbors. Get in snowball fights. Treat it as a very serious meteorological event, and go for a walk and see how places you never see covered in snow look when covered in snow. Wear good shoes and gloves and take pictures. You all go snowboarding and shit all the time, right, so you have the gear. Walk from Pike Place Market up to Capitol Hill, slipping and sliding and LISTENING—cities sound different when muffled by snow. Stop in your favorite bar—or a bar you’d never go into—and ask for a hot cider with Jack Daniels, or an Irish coffee, or a hot chocolate and peppermint schnapps.
So often, city dwellers (perhaps especially people who live in urban climates that don’t vary much—San Diego, Seattle) see extreme weather as a threat or hardship instead of an opportunity to experience the place they live in a new way. Sure, it sucks if you’re driving or waiting for a bus. But if that bus won’t arrive for an hour, why not spend that hour walking to where you were going anyway? If traffic is gridlocked, park the car and walk home. The cops might not be able to ticket you before you walk back to the car, since they’re in gridlock too, and even if they do it might be worth it to see, hear, feel your town in a new way.
I hope my fucking local doesn’t close early. I’ve got drinking to do.
Actually, the comedy heading is perfect. I’m originally from Schenectady (50s today) and it’s pretty funny how a wee dusting of snow completely cripples Seattle. Mayor Mike needs to do the right thing and declare Tuesday a snow day for the entire city.
The thing with Seattle is that the roads are never frozen when the shit starts. This leaves a nice, thick layer of ice over everything. When combined with a city with little snow/ice removal equipment, few drivers with 4WD (and those few drivers thinking that helps you stop), and hills on top of hills everywhere you have a recipe for disaster.
Too late to shovel, the frozen footprints are already stuck to my sidewalk.
I want to fucking sled you newsy sons of bitches
Hello Mayor Mike it’s time to close the streets! City wide sledding party!
No need to apologize to anyone who includes “the” in an alphabetization scheme. They deserve all the trouble they get.
Hey @2, I’m originally from Sch’dy too! See, I even know the abbrev.
it might be worth it to see, hear, feel your town in a new way
Yeah? Tell it to my neighbor the trauma nurse at Harborview, who can’t get to her job tonight. If someone dies for lack of care, let’s hope it’s not you and anyone you give a flying fuck about, you pathetic asswipe.
Hey Chicago Fan,
I agree with you partner. Last time it snowed this “heavy”, I broke out the X-country skis and skiied in Ravenna. In fact, I’ve done that few a times when it snows like this. It is amazing how quiet the city sounds (especially at night) and how beautiful the cityscape is covered in a blanket of snow. I, too am from Chicago and enjoy true winter. Although, oddly enough this is autumn in Seattle! You provided some great suggestions. Really folks, bundle up and head out.
Hear, hear! I would also recommend a hot toddy.
When I lived in New York, the excitement and fascination never stopped, but nothing, not even the sight of Wall Street subway stations disgorging a hundred thousand people at once, compared to walking up Fifth Avenue from Washington Square Park at night in a snowstorm. Traffic: zero. Noise: zero. Not even the taxis were out. You could hear shouts from ten blocks away. The lights were sparkling and unbelievable. You’re right, the sounds are different, and wonderful. Better than any movie ever made.
Another time I walked through the snow all the way down First Avenue from my work on 62nd street, past the UN, down some of the dreariest blocks in any American city, all the way to 14th Street where I lived. You wouldn’t think you could walk fifty blocks in the densest city in America without seeing more than one person — a guy who was as lost as I was — but there it was.
Cities are magic at night in the snow.
I completely agree with you, Fnarf. Lake City is kinda sketch (at least the area I live in is), but tonight while walking home from work, it was like a picturesque small-town Christmas eve. Absolutely gorgeous.
Seriously, what the fuck, Seattle? How on earth does a couple inches of snow shut down a whole city? How bad at driving are you people? As for the trauma nurse, surely someone can get her there. It’s snow, not nuclear winter, for crying out loud.
That said, as an expat midwesterner, I’ll second the get-out-and-enjoy-the-beauty sentiment. Although admittedly, I’m enjoying it in a chair with a sleeping bag and a glass of wine. It’s still quite pretty from in here.
Also hot cider and Tuaca is very nice… as a Midwesterner for, say, 30 years of my life, I have to say that driving from Seattle to Eugene today was actually pretty rough. Lots of cars in ditches, lots of multi-car accidents. We made it home safe (because, you know, we know how to drive in snow), but the storm was nothing to sneeze at…
@9 If your friends job is the difference between life and death call the police, that’s why they exist, what officer isn’t going to take an hour out of his day to get someone who, from what I understand of an anonymous internet comment, is the only person in this city who can save these lives. If she’s setup in such a way that 3-5 inches of snow means people die (I got to work in my bucket of a Honda, I think anyone can), she seriously needs to consider a new vehicle, or maybe just quit her job because they aren’t paying her enough for said vehicle that is the difference between people dying. My roommate works in a hospital and has about 18 different giant burly men with trucks waiting for her to call and take her to SAVE THE LIVES like only she can, or something like that (she’s also had to sleep at the hospital for 2 days because of it). Let’s also not try to compare apples and oranges, your friend clearly should be at work more than anyone at westgate mall, yes? So let’s let the westgate mall employees call out, and enjoy the weather, so your friend can get to work that much faster. Also, if the difference between people living and dying is a single nurse, that’s not a hospital anyone should be going to.
@16
You beat me to the punch.
That is so true, Chicago Fan. Early on when I lived in Chicago, my roommate and I were walking from a free movie at the Music Box at night back through the ‘hood to our apartment after a pretty decent snow. Everything was still covered — the plows hadn’t been by yet, the snow hadn’t turned black or to slush, and it was eerily quiet, like when you’re out in the woods camping. Yet it was amazing. Here we are in the 3rd largest city in the US, and it’s quiet and beautiful and so different.
I’m so not a fan of winter (that’s why I live in CA now) but that’s my favorite Chicago Winter memory.