Snow Rant

Winter weather in a town little accustomed to it brings all manner of delays and cancellations, some well thought out – like school start-time delays, others unintentional – like the idiot who thinks he knows how to drive on ice and snow careening his car off of a highway overpass. The moral of this is: It is better to cancel or delay intentionally.

I had an important engagement at 7:00 a.m. today, following six inches of snow which began last evening. The organizers of this gathering waited until after the late evening news to decide whether or not to cancel. My phone rang right on schedule, just as I heard the weatherman advise his viewers not to travel. My appointment was NOT cancelled. The person calling to deliver this news, the same person who scheduled my appearance, told me she would not be attending, and doubted many others would make the treacherous early morning trek. Excuse me? I’m still expected? The event is not cancelled? No one else wants to brave the elements? Does this make sense to anyone? I’m to drive across town on snow and ice to speak to a group, the majority of whom will not show up. Hmmmm. When I questioned the sanity of this I was told I cold make my own decision about whether or not to go in the morning. Maybe the organizers thought the sun would come out at 3:00 a.m., melting the accumulating snow.

I awoke extra early after a fitful night’s sleep, turned on the local news to learn every school district in a one-hundred mile radius was delayed. I also watched news footage of overnight accidents, including a wrecked police cruiser and an overturned pickup truck. Let’s see, I’m going to drive across town to an event that may have no one in attendance but me – not gonna happen.

What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know we live in a town that comes to a screeching halt when we get even a light dusting of snow? We can barely drive in the rain! If you are reading this from, say, Milwaukee, Wisconsin (hello, Aunt Karen) or Denver, Colorado (hi, Lisa) you are probably baffled by it. “What’s the big deal about a few inches of snow?” you are asking yourself. In west Texas we don’t own snow tires or chains, nor does our road department get in any hurry to bring out the sand, salt or snow plow. (I’m not sure our city owns a snow plow.) The ice/snow covers the city streets as if a zamboni has prepared it for the Olympic figure skating event. As I am not expecting to medal in my cross town drive – I’m staying home.