Snow Delay

When I was young, snow on a weekday meant eagerly listening to the radio, holding our breath as the list of closures and delays was read off - or, sometimes, watching the morning news on TV as the little bar beneath the babbling anchors scrolled through names familiar and strange. Closures were best, of course, but a delay meant little more than a change in routine. It was too late to actually crawl back into bed and get more sleep. In truth, as someone to whom crawling out of bed in the morning was never a pleasant task, it was rather annoying; if I'd known beforehand, I could've at least slept in.

Today, work had called for an early start, as the MLK Weekend "storm surge" was due to strike. The weather gurus, however, have been muttering and mumbling about a Major Snow Event, the potential for a foot of snow today, with possible winds. Around here, we take our weather forecasts with a steamshovel of salt, but - sure enough - this morning I woke to see a fresh layer of white across the yard, and fine wet flakes still sifting down from the great flour sieve in the skies.

Now, I know what work is not school. We grown-ups are expected to risk our necks on icy roads amid our fellow grown-ups to get to our jobs, trivial as they may be. And the library is, technically, government. They don't close down unless they can't get the doors open, or unless the power's out.

Still, memories of school days, of the golden "C" word, prompted me to call in before I took the time to excavate my car from the driveway.

We have a one-hour delay, after which we lowly part-timers are to call in and check to see if the facilities are opening at all.

So, I crawled out of bed on maybe 5 hours sleep for nothing... and, once again, if I'd known beforehand, I could've at least slept in.

Dang it...

(Did they make us go in? Even when nobody else made their employees go in, except maybe Metro and the Post Office? Did they make us drive on icy roads that were almost entirely devoid of other vehicles?

Yes. Yes they did. For all of 2 1/2 hours. Turns out that most of the rest of the library system was closed or intended to close early, so it was pointless to keep us there any longer. Tomorrow we finish the holiday load we were supposed to do today. And Friday we get slammed with snow-day catchups.

And I forgot my sandwich at work, too...

Dang it.)