f r e s h s t a r t

Monday, January 24, 2005

 

Listen, child.

So the past weekend's weather wasn't a surprise to anyone who pays attention to weather reports, but such practical items are not usually on my agenda. I teased my officemate when she talked about needing to leave work early on Friday to buy groceries before the storm hit, thinking that she was exaggerating.
I went over to Amanda's that evening to hang out and catch up, and ended up sleeping on her couch for the night. The next morning I walked out of her building and found that my car had been parked in an area that is a tow zone if there are more than two inches of snow on the ground, but that it hadn't been towed! It had however, been plowed in again and again during the night. Dirty brown snow was packed around it almost up to the windows. Amanda didn't have a snow shovel, so I went across the street to McDonalds and begged the manager to let me borrow one of theirs. After I had been digging for about five minutes, a random man who had been eating at McDonalds came across the street and told me that at the rate I was shoveling, I'd be there all day. He insisted on helping me, and after protesting a little I let him. I scraped the windows and warmed up the car while he cleared out the area around my tires. I thanked him, shook his hand, and drove off.

Lessons learned: Listen to your life-long Chicago resident officemate when she talks about the weather. (Beryl scolded me when I told her this story this morning) Be thankful for the kindness of random strangers, especially genuinely nice ones who aren't trying to pick you up or get money from you.

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