No End in Sight

We’ve had over four feet of snow already this winter, most of which is still on the ground, and we’re due for more over the weekend. Joy. Just motherfucking, soot covered joy.

At Logan, the seven-day snowfall total recorded by the weather service shattered the previous record by several inches, while the 10-day tally approached 4 feet — meaning more snow has fallen in Boston over the past week and a half than the city sees in an entire average winter.

I mentioned that almost no one down here on the Neck has shoveled their walks. Turns out we Neckers are not the exception. The very congested city of Somerville, in an effort to "shame" people into clearing their walks, has started tagging houses and apartment buildings with neon hued notices. Fines have also been doubled. I very much doubt the bright colored notices OR the fines will do any good though.

Jen and I were in the Coolidge Corner section of Brookline on Tuesday night. While the shop lined main drags, Harvard and Beacon, are cleared of snow, the side streets are a whole ‘nother thing. It just blew my tiny mind clean off to find a big snowy, dangerous mess out front of a 12 unit, more or less, apartment building with a real estate office on the first floor. They’d shoveled once, maybe more—that was clear—but then, presumably, gave up the fight. I totally understand BUT this is a pedestrian heavy walk AND this area has a large elderly population. Disasters and lawsuits waiting to happened.

Hoofing it in Brookline's very busy street isn’t an option so what to do? what to do? I was lucky to have Jen with me. I held onto her shoulders as she led the way through the slippery snow piles.

A pair of ski poles and a pair of snow shoes is what's needed, I tell ya!

I checked the forecast and it appears that this shit’s not gonna melt before July. Seriously! OK no but we’re not gonna have a day with temps above 40º before the end of the month and March isn’t looking any better.

What to do? What to do? For starters, I bought a pair of Yaktrax. A friend, years ago, praised these suckers. Said, despite the simple, innocuous appearance, they totally kept him from slipping and sliding. We’ll see. I’ll test them out while errand running today.

Another thing about living with walls of ice and snow everywhere—the limited mobility is getting to me. Big time. There’s mountains of the white stuff piled high along Edgewater Drive. I can’t get to the sea wall steps and down to the beach. Of course, now that I say this, it occurs to me that I could maybe shovel a path through.

And, for that matter, I'll bet I could fashion a pair of snow shoes. Given that we'll be living with four and five foot walls of this frozen wet shit for at least another month, I think it's time for me to embrace it. OK not literally.