Yesterday and it's Adventures
I begin my tale on Friday evening. I was running very low on gas and decided that I would fill up at the Safeway after Diz and I got done picking some things up. Except the line at the pumps was huuuuge so I said screw it and went home.
Saturday SNOW happened.
Sunday, around 11, I decided it was time to see about digging my car out. I enlisted Dizzy to help and, not actually owning a shovel (wtf??) we got to work digging poor Za out with trash bins. I reckon it took us a 40 minutes to clear away enough snow that we could finally get the poor guy out of the parking spot. And that's when the Adventure began.
I was dangerously low on gas so Diz hopped in and we decided to set off to the gas station since we already had Za out and mobile. Now... our apartment complex is set up kinda weird. The buildings themselves are all set up on hills, creating a sort of valley between them where the roads are. From our parking spaces, there is literally no way to go except for down into this little valley and then back up in one direction or the other. You can imagine how fun this is going to be.
We made it down to the main intersection easy enough and turned to take the normal way out. Except there was a van half in the road, trying to get out of a spot. So we backed up, turned around and tried to go the other way. Except there was a van on THAT hill that was stuck on the sheet of ice the road had become. All roads at this point are effectively one way. So we turn around AGAIN because by now the van has gotten out of the way and we get halfway up the hill before we have to stop again for the same reason: a car halfway in the road, trying to get out of it's spot. They scoot in enough for me to get by but it was too late. Za's tires were spinning 'cause we lost our momentum so Dizzy has to hop out and help PUSH Za up the rest of the hill. Go go Amazon Queen.
Yay! We're on top of the hill! We had another minor crisis when one of Za's wheels got stuck but we wiggled out. Only to find a line of cars waiting at the road out of the community. ANOTHER VAN TRYING TO GET OUT OF A SPOT JESUS HOW MANY VANS ARE GONNA TRY THIS?? So we wait... and wait.. and the van makes it out... and promptly sinks one of it's wheels into a ditch. Queue more waiting, this time with the awesome sound of squealing rubber.
And poor Za is sitting there with his little gas light blinking forlornly at me. *sigh* The van finally gets it going and we all file out towards the main road. There was one last moment of 'urgh!' when someone decided they wanted to turn left out onto the main road. Except that the road we were on (the one leading into the community) was one way just like all the others and it was plowed in a weird way so we were basically between lanes. Which meant that this car sitting up there wasn't going to trigger the light sensor for a left turn no matter how long he sat there. Someone had to go up and convince the guy to turn right instead so the rest of us PLUS the people from the main road wanting to get onto our road could GO. Guh.
It was a little harrowing getting to the gas station because Nutley was a snow field, but we made it. There were cars all over the place that had been abandoned... obviously by people that had tried to go out last night and got stuck in the snow. One car buried in the middle of an intersection had plates that said 'o noes' which I thought was VERY FITTING. lol
But we made it back okay and I decided to just park poor Za in the WELL PLOWED parking lot of the strip mall across the road from our place. I will probably continue to park him there until our roads stop looking like DEATH TRAPS. I swear, I was listening to spinning tires all night. And there were flashing lights out there too... when I walked out to Za this morning, there was an impressive indentation in a snow bank surrounded by vehicular shrapnel. Ouch.
So yeah, no thanks. Can't really afford to have my car ruined.
The rest of this work week is going to BLOW. I can feel it.
More as the Chronoplast turns.
Saturday SNOW happened.
Sunday, around 11, I decided it was time to see about digging my car out. I enlisted Dizzy to help and, not actually owning a shovel (wtf??) we got to work digging poor Za out with trash bins. I reckon it took us a 40 minutes to clear away enough snow that we could finally get the poor guy out of the parking spot. And that's when the Adventure began.
I was dangerously low on gas so Diz hopped in and we decided to set off to the gas station since we already had Za out and mobile. Now... our apartment complex is set up kinda weird. The buildings themselves are all set up on hills, creating a sort of valley between them where the roads are. From our parking spaces, there is literally no way to go except for down into this little valley and then back up in one direction or the other. You can imagine how fun this is going to be.
We made it down to the main intersection easy enough and turned to take the normal way out. Except there was a van half in the road, trying to get out of a spot. So we backed up, turned around and tried to go the other way. Except there was a van on THAT hill that was stuck on the sheet of ice the road had become. All roads at this point are effectively one way. So we turn around AGAIN because by now the van has gotten out of the way and we get halfway up the hill before we have to stop again for the same reason: a car halfway in the road, trying to get out of it's spot. They scoot in enough for me to get by but it was too late. Za's tires were spinning 'cause we lost our momentum so Dizzy has to hop out and help PUSH Za up the rest of the hill. Go go Amazon Queen.
Yay! We're on top of the hill! We had another minor crisis when one of Za's wheels got stuck but we wiggled out. Only to find a line of cars waiting at the road out of the community. ANOTHER VAN TRYING TO GET OUT OF A SPOT JESUS HOW MANY VANS ARE GONNA TRY THIS?? So we wait... and wait.. and the van makes it out... and promptly sinks one of it's wheels into a ditch. Queue more waiting, this time with the awesome sound of squealing rubber.
And poor Za is sitting there with his little gas light blinking forlornly at me. *sigh* The van finally gets it going and we all file out towards the main road. There was one last moment of 'urgh!' when someone decided they wanted to turn left out onto the main road. Except that the road we were on (the one leading into the community) was one way just like all the others and it was plowed in a weird way so we were basically between lanes. Which meant that this car sitting up there wasn't going to trigger the light sensor for a left turn no matter how long he sat there. Someone had to go up and convince the guy to turn right instead so the rest of us PLUS the people from the main road wanting to get onto our road could GO. Guh.
It was a little harrowing getting to the gas station because Nutley was a snow field, but we made it. There were cars all over the place that had been abandoned... obviously by people that had tried to go out last night and got stuck in the snow. One car buried in the middle of an intersection had plates that said 'o noes' which I thought was VERY FITTING. lol
But we made it back okay and I decided to just park poor Za in the WELL PLOWED parking lot of the strip mall across the road from our place. I will probably continue to park him there until our roads stop looking like DEATH TRAPS. I swear, I was listening to spinning tires all night. And there were flashing lights out there too... when I walked out to Za this morning, there was an impressive indentation in a snow bank surrounded by vehicular shrapnel. Ouch.
So yeah, no thanks. Can't really afford to have my car ruined.
The rest of this work week is going to BLOW. I can feel it.
More as the Chronoplast turns.