Yes, it can happen.
It did.
The snowfall began even before the sun came up on Friday. Initially, the snow was fun. Everything looked pretty.
But, thanks to meteorologists--the real one, and not the fakes on TV--we knew what the weekend would be like.
Damn, the forecasts were correct!
By evening, the flakes fell no more. After the sun went down, I stepped out to view the neighborhood.
"You are braver than me" yelled a voice. It was my neighbor, with a camera in her hand. I suppose I was the ambulatory version of "fools rush in." The neighborhood looked gorgeous with the streetlight illuminating the sparkles on the ground, and the holiday lights on homes adding color to the white background.
But, it was cold. Colder than all the pretty women who have turned their backs on me! ;)
Saturday mid-morning.
The sun was bright. The sky was clear.
I decided that I had to find out how my friends, the Willamette River and the bike path, looked after the seven-plus inches that fell from the sky.
The landscape was surreal.
An older gent was scanning the scenery. "I suppose no bikes today" he joked. We men love to joke in any context. I wonder if even at funerals our minds are only thinking of funny lines. We are strange creatures, indeed. But, was Christopher Hitchens on to something when he opined that the average women simply aren't funny?
Saturday overnight, the temperature went down. All the way down to 10 below zero. On the Fahrenheit scale, which means it is negative 23 in Celsisus. Yes, -23 C, Ramesh!
When talking with my parents, my father complained that it was cold for him because the daytime high wasn't even at 27. In Celsius! I described to him the weather conditions here.
"I hope you are warm" he said.
I live in a land of luxury, where we take for granted the warmth during the cold weather. Climate-controlled homes. Hot water at the twist of the faucet. Refrigerator and freezer stocked with food, and kitchen shelves with more food. My biggest, and only, problem was that I had only three days of coffee supply in the canister. What a lucky and decadent life!
Having lived this long, I know that I have nothing to complain about. And that revelation is no snow-job!
2 comments:
Brrrrr. Shiver shiver. I much rather watch the pretty pictures. -23 deg C ????????????? Even polar bears won't survive in that temp.
By the way, how come the river is not all frozen over at that sort of Plutoish temperature. And whatever happened to your friends , the goslings ??
the little bit i walked around, i didn't see any birds ... but then i didn't walk much anyway--it was bone-chilling.
what amazes me even more is this: that a couple of generations ago, people worked on the roads and power stations and everything else that now makes it possible for me to stay in the warmth and comfort. but, for them, the conditions would have been horrendous. like the scenes in charlie chaplin's "gold rush" when he cooks and eats the shoe--remember that one?
as einstein said, i am able to look farther because i stand on the shoulders of giants who went before me ...
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