...in which WOO HOO it's snowin'!
Which, snow is the only thing I love about winter. Hell, it’s the only thing I don’t HATE about winter.
Didn’t know it was gonna snow. Didn’t know it was snowing when it first started. I was still at work over at Planet M. Walked outside after I got off and there was already an inch or so on the ground. I was happy, except that I was in my sneakers. So I went home and changed into my boots, and went out walkin’. Been walkin’ ever since. Came home just now ‘cause my whiskey ran out, and I needed a refill. But I'm goin’ right back out.
Gotta work early tomorrow morning. Which, okay, so I just won’t get any sleep. Won’t be the first time, you know?
The salt trucks don't seem to have even been out, either. The streets are solid sheets of ice. I walked through the viaduct at Tenth Street just in time to see one of those new VW bugs, the ones that look like low-end spaceships, get stranded under the bridge. She slipped backwards ‘til she was across both lanes, taking up the entire road. Fortunately, folks saw her and stopped, and effectively blocked off either end of the viaduct, but it was a mess. I wanted to help, but seriously, what could I do? I mean, those are tiny vehicles, and ordinarily I would just toss the damned thing over my shoulder and pull her out myself (those things weigh, like, twenty pounds), but on the ice I couldn’t help her. Called the local PD, though. Hope everything turned out well.
Sheets of ice, I tells ya. I slipped a little crossing Fourth Avenue between 15th and 16th Streets, and slipped dramatically crossing Sixth Avenue at 11th Street. Can’t believe I didn’t fall. And falling with an already broken hand could be a pretty serious business. It was one of those things where you slip, you catch yourself, you slip, you catch yourself, you slip, and then finally you’re steady again, and it takes a second to figure out which way you’re facing now ‘cause you’ve spun ‘round several times in the effort to keep your balance.
I stopped and stood in the middle of the street once I was back in control, heedless of the oncoming traffic. I raised my hands to the sky, threw my head back, and laughed out loud. A good, joyous, evil-sounding laugh, the sort the guys on MST3K wish they could have copied. I was mighty. Then I walked on, so as not to get run over.
It’s a beautiful night, brothers and sisters, and I wish I had one of you to walk with. I’ve enjoyed listening to the playlist I made special for late-night walking in the snow, but I would still treasure the company of any of you. I did make an effort to call Courtney so I could take her around with me, but her phone still isn’t working. But if anybody wants to go walking in the snow with me, gimme a buzz. I got the phone with me.