 |
| Fruits of a Very Long Day |
Any time you get a major snow storm
and work in transit, it is going to be a long day. Yesterday was a true testament
to that belief. We received over a foot of the white stuff yesterday. I’m
really proud of my people because we made every scheduled run and the drivers
and their supervisors performed magnificently getting people to work and back
home. Several other transit agencies around Massachusetts chose to suspend
service which made our bunch even more impressive.
 |
| We Even Made the TV News |
I had the fun task of driving into
Boston just as the worst of the storm hit. It was a very long and slow trek but
the severity of the storm kept traffic to a minimum and the normal one hour
trip only took an hour and a half. I checked on my daughter’s flight status before
I left Worcester and she was still on track to land a little after 5pm. A little
over half way through the drive I received a call from Wingman reporting my
daughter’s plane was diverted to Detroit to wait out the storm.
 |
| The Snow Plowing Operations |
Since I had already made most of the
drive I didn’t want to return to Worcester and then have to turn around and
drive back again so I continued on to the airport, figuring I’d have a couple
hour wait. That estimate was slightly off as I got to spend five magical hours
at the nearly deserted Logan International Airport. It was kind of spooky to
see the normally bustling place so quiet as most flights were canceled,
casualties of the storm. It did provide an opportunity to watch snow removal
operations which were fascinating. It resembled an army of ants as dozens of
plows maneuvered the snow across the vast concrete jet ways into a huge pile. A
massive front end loader then scooped it up and dropped it into a freight car
size snow melter. In a matter of second the gigantic load of snow was reduced
to water which streamed out below. It was almost hypnotic to watch and I spent
nearly an hour there.
 |
| The Snow Melter |
You can guess from the above statement
that I was more than a little bored. After buying another set of reading
glasses I finished off the one book I brought with me. I was also more than a
little frantic because the delay meant I wasn’t getting home in time to allow Buddy
to get outside to do his business. I called the neighborhood Mafioso and he
trudged through the snow to try and gain access to the house but the garage
door code wasn’t working so Buddy was on his own. While he was there he and his
son carved a hole in the three foot tall snow bank so I could get into the
driveway when I returned. I’ve said before how blessed I am in the neighbor
department – yet another example.
 |
| Such a Welcome Sight |
Finally, a little after six, the
flight status changed and reported my daughter’s plane would arrive in Boston
at 730pm. I’m no genius but I knew it took longer than that to fly from
Detroit. My daughter had my granddaughter break away from knocking over huge
Detroit chess pieces and boarded the plane. The finally arrived a little before
9pm and had to wait a frustrating fifteen minutes longer as my fascinating snow
plows were in the way at the gate. It was a huge relief to the far flung elements
of the family, who’d been tracking the progress, when I finally saw them descending
the escalator. The granddaughter was a little shy at first abut seemed none the
worse for the wear after a long day traveling across the country. While we were
waiting for baggage a fellow passenger came up and complimented my daughter on
both my granddaughter and how well she handled the long day.
 |
| Knocking Over Detroit Chess Board |
The drive home was not bad as the
storm had passed and the road crews had the interstates down to the pavement.
We slipped and slid into the driveway through the gap created by the Mafioso and
I hurried inside to learn what kind of mess I was going to have to deal with
from my abandoned dog. Once I found him, he’d burrowed into some stored furniture
to hide from the thunder snow, I found he’d passed the entire 16 hours without passing
anything else – no mess at all! I felt like Buddy was a bona fide hero for the
first time in his life. I spent a couple more hours outside clearing away the
snow and finally sat down to relax a little after midnight. A very long but
well spent day since by the end of it I had both the daughter and First Blog Reader
in residence.
 |
| Start the Happy Dance |
No comments:
Post a Comment