I don't know if it's getting colder sooner, or I'm just not handling the cold like I used to. I was off from work Wednesday and Thursday and after doing most of my chores around my apartment I spent most of my time over at the firehouse. Thursday night is meeting night, so I was sure to be there then. But that night a big cold front moved in and what started as rain rapidly turned to sleet then snow as the night progressed.
The walk home from the station, only about 150 yards, was miserable. I got home and cranked up the heat for a bit just to warm up, and threw an extra blanket on my bed. Friday was a do-nothing day for me except going the the office and picking up my paycheck, going to the bank and really nothing more. I did those chores in the afternoon and again I found myself heading to the firehouse if for nothing else, something else to look at besides my apartment.
I spent the better part of the afternoon there, shooting darts and watching the news but we got paged out for a auto accident around 4:30 PM... Nothing serious, no injuries... Just someone who forgot that you don't slam on your breaks going down an ice covered hill in a curve. You tend not to follow the curve and wind up going off the road into a ditch. Again, trees don't move.
But I did spend a long time standing out one the road directing traffic around the rescue rig, police cars and wrecker. It was cold out... And even in my bunker gear I was starting to feel it. By the time we got back to the station I was so cold I couldn't feel my feet anymore and just couldn't warm back up. I saw the forecast for overnight and the low temperature was expected to plummet down into the low teens.
And here's where I got pathetic...
From my apartment, my place of employment is exactly 231 yards (I paced it once) and except for torrential downpours, I usually walk to and from work.
Not last night.
By the time I got home last night to get ready for work, the mere thought of walking home at 6 AM in that cold was just a little too much. I actually drove my lazy ass to work just so I didn't have to freeze for the three minutes it takes me to make the trek home.
Some of my regular readers who hail from colder climates I know are laughing heartily at me right now and I deserve it. It is kind of pathetic.
I should be used to it. I grew up in Pennsylvania and I swear the winters were worse then. I recall some winters where it would start snowing in October and we wouldn't see the ground again until the following May. One winter in particular, I think I was twelve or thirteen at the time, the Delaware river froze over completely and myself and two of my friends decided to walk across the ice from Northeast Philly over to New Jersey. We did it, but the ass beating from my father when he found out what we did later wasn't worth it.
Winters were worse then, but I'm feeling them now more than ever.
If this makes me pathetic, I guess I am.
But at least I'm warm!
Temperature at my apartment at the time of this posting: 12 F
Copyright 2005 Thomas J Wolfenden
7 comments:
I can't help it, this totally made me laugh.
oh, btw, love the baby giving the finger. Totally drew me in to take a look.
It's called "getting old"...that and the fact that winters WERE worse when we were kids and you had to walk 5 miles to school, uphill both ways, with a lard sandwich for lunch.
You're not pathetic. I DON"T LIKE THE COLD either! It sucks...I totally would have driven too.
That river iced up a bit last winter, too. My favorites are the guys who trekked across the Bering Sea ice back in the 70's and 80's. People don't realize that once that freezes over, the Alaska and the USSR were literally within walking distance of each other. The Diomede Islands are only a mile or so apart.
Tom, did you hear about the time the Schuylkil (I know I probably spelled it wrong - I'm a transplant, remember) froze over and some schmuck tried to end it all by jumping off the South St. bridge? He lived, but broke both his legs when he hit the ice (he didn't break through, as I'm sure he was trying to do). It snowed before he jumped, covering the ice and leaving imprints of the whole event. For a while, there were marks left in the snow showing where his rescuers trekked halfway across the ice to reach him, and of course the big mark he made when he landed and then writhed around in pain for a while.
Oh hell, I'm pathetic like that EVERY day. you know, with the car thing to avoid the walking.
If you had a cat you wouldn't be bored ;)
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