Say it ain’t snow

Snow, sleet, freezing rain, followed by rain.

Are we having fun yet?

Maybe it’s me, because I have come to have a thorough dislike for all things winter, but I gritted my teeth even more than usual this morning as I made my way into the office.

The source of my angst was not the sloppy going. Yes, the roads were a mess. As usual, the biggest challenge was just getting out of the driveway, followed by an adventurous trip out of the development to the main roads. Once there, while the roads were messy, they were certainly driveable.

That’s not what was bothering me. Like I said, maybe it’s just me, but I could almost detect a sense of glee in the woman’s voice on the radio as she informed me how bad it was going to be.

It’s always a bit deceiving when I look out the window of my house. That’s because it usually looks like the end of the world in my development. As usual, once I cleared off the car and slogged my way out to the main roads, the driving was not horrible. It wasn’t great, but it was certainly doable. About the biggest delay, other than the normal reduced speed, was encountering a plow train on West Chester Pike that had traffic backed up behind it.

A confession here. In this kind of weather I always head into the office early, so I don’t have to deal with a lot of the rush-hour drivers who have no clue how to drive in snow. I know this is going to sound like heresy, but there is such a thing as driving too slow in the snow, especially when heading up hills.

By the time I hit the roads before 5 a.m., the snow had stopped and it was actually raining. A wintry mix, as we’ve heard about a milion times since yesterday.

Of course, any kind of “winter weather event” means the radio and TV folks roll out the heavy artillery. I almost feel bad for them. They haven’t had a real winter storm yet this year to get worked up about, so I pretty much knew what to expect this morning.

Most schools are closed. Delays are being reported at the airport. The TV and radio folks are approaching something close to nirvana. At any second now I expect to see someone sticking a ruler into the snow.

Spring can’t come fast enough.

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