Inclemency

I went to bed last night with some faith that school would be closed today. When I left the office yesterday evening to go to a nearby screening, snow was falling. Traffic was bunched up and slow, but the roads were not that bad going by local standards. When I got out of the screening a couple hours later, the snow had switched to freezing rain and sleet. The roads were worse and drivers even more unsafely skittish, but if this was as bad as it was going to get, there would be no reason why my employer would close. School districts close; colleges and universities rarely do.

Of course, we were in for more frozen precipitation through the rest of the night and into this morning and afternoon. Although I didn't have my cell phone in the bedroom, it awakened me at 5:40 a.m. as an automated call came in from my place of work. I had no idea what time it was when I was jolted out of my sleep, so I chose to answer the call when I recognized the number. No one (or no thing, in this case) responded, but I figured it meant we were closed. A quick boot-up of the computer confirmed as much.

I slept in late and then decided to clear off my car so I could go across the street for an intended breakfast that became lunch. You see, it took me a good half hour to get through the thick ice on the windows and windshield. Scraping was worthless; I had to score the ice and chip through it. Luckily I had the foresight to raise my brand new windshield wipers the night before. Otherwise they would have been stuck to the glass.

Eventually I had enough snow and ice cleared to be able to drive the short distance for the meal. When I took of my hat, coat, scarf, and gloves I discovered that I was glazed with ice, snow, and water. What I had to eat warmed me up. Then I went home to watch TV for a bit, took a nap, and then finally did some necessary work that I should have been doing (and would have done at the office if I'd been there). Is it greedy to ask for another one of these days tomorrow?