Friday, January 5, 2018
I ventured out of doors today for the first time since Tuesday. First, the rain, then the snow and the below freezing temperatures kept me inside my apartment. I have lived in South Carolina since 1959, and cannot recall any other three days where the weather was so inhospitable.
The streets in my apartment complex are still hazardous with snow and ice. The public streets were better, except where tall trees kept the sun from melting the snow and ice on the streets. The major highways, US 17 and I-26, were much more favorable with only a little snow along the edges and against curbing. Most of the roads were still damp with water.
I stopped complaining about the monthly rental cost when I opened my garage and did not have to scrape ice off the windshield or snow off the roof, hood or trunk of my Lexus. Many of my neighbors who park out in the open have done so and some have still to do it.
As I rode on my journey I saw automobiles with snow still packed on the roof and one pick-up truck had a couple of inches of snow covering the entire plastic liner in the back of the truck. I wondered if the driver was taking this somewhere to show someone, or just didn’t have the time to shovel/sweep out his bed truck. Maybe it was too cold to bother.
On I-26, a car ahead of me shed its roof of accumulated snow unexpectedly and caused several other drivers to slow down. Only on one spot on US 17 did my car slide on ice for a moment while driving home late in the afternoon.
I got where I wanted to go, did my shopping, and got home safely. Then I read in The New York Times that the real feel temperature in a park in New Hampshire tonight is going to be minus 100 degrees.
When my sister moved East from California last year she settled in Rhode Island. When we asked why she did not go to New Hampshire where her daughter lived she said, “Oh, it’s too cold in New Hampshire.” Who knew 50 years in California would make one so intelligent?
