Friday, December 3, 2010

Ice

The other day I wrote a lovely blog about snow. It snowed again here last night, so the weather and I are friends again. Why were we periodically not so cordial? After the big snow a few days ago, the sun came out and warmed things up enough to start melting some of the snow that is on the streets and sidewalks, the problem is a lot of this snow had been tromped down by the hundreds of people walking to and from work and school, so the packed down layer was probably 2 inches thick. As the snow started to melt, it created a nice layer or water on top of this treaded snow. Unfortunately the days are pretty short here, so the sun doesn’t have ample time to get through all those layers. Also, the streets are in between buildings, as I live in a city. So, when the sun is up, it is useful, until the buildings shade the streets or sidewalks again. Once the sun goes away, the temperature drops and a nice thick layer of solid ice greeted everyone. I felt like I was ice skating with a bunch of people that I have never met. People were clutching each other, cars, light posts, street signs, whatever they could to keep from falling. Needless to say it took a little longer to get home than normal. Thankfully, and I hope I’m not jinxing myself, there were no wipeouts. There was quite a bit of high-pitched screeching as girls around me slid all over the place, but I didn’t see anyone eat it, so that’s good.
One of the most treacherous parts of my day is arriving and leaving work. There is a significant hill that I have to walk up and down. In dry temperatures it is hard enough because it is at a pretty good grade, but in snow it is a bit more difficult. In ice this hill is perfect for luging (well besides the fact that it is paved and leads right into a busy street). I could go around and walk about 5 extra minutes to take the safer route, but might as well live on the edge. I take the paths with new snowfall and hold onto the wall.
As I had a lovely tribute to snow, I’ll finish this post with the times that I like ice. I like ice in a big glass of water. I like ice when I hurt myself and need to not feel the injury. I like ice when it keeps my beers cold in the cooler. I like ice when it is 110 degrees outside and I feel like I’m melting. I like ice when I’m ice-skating or playing hockey. (Admittedly, I don’t play hockey, but you get the idea.) I like ice when I want to build an igloo (also admittedly, not that often. Or ever.) Ok I’m stretching here, as we have learned from this exercise, ice is way less loveable than snow, but enjoy yours in your drink. I haven’t seen a drink full of ice in about a year.

No comments:

Post a Comment