Weekend snow causes some Hub dwellers to flake out
By Beth Teitell
Tuesday, December 9, 2003
As the snow continued to fall Saturday, and
frightening reports started trickling in that at least one mall - The Atrium in
Chestnut Hill - had closed at 2 p.m., my phone rang.
"I wasn't ready for this," began the voice on the other end of the phone. "They didn't give us enough warning."
Considering the caller is not the kind of person who plans for anything, even with months of notice, I asked what she would have done differently had Channel 5's Harvey Leonard called her personally last Monday to alert her to the storm.
"I would have shopped on Friday," she said.
I pointed out that she did shop on Friday. "Yes, but that was my 'me' holiday shopping. I meant I would have shopped for others."
Having lost a whole weekend, she's not sure she'll be able to meet her various gift-exchange deadlines. "All holiday gift-giving should be pushed back by a week," she suggested.
"It would be better for the stores, too," she added, almost as an afterthought.
Although I hadn't planned to shop during the weekend, I liked her idea. But before calling my state rep to see about getting a bill introduced, I ran it by an expert in the field (a woman who keeps a closet full of wrapped presents in case someone stops by with an unexpected gift).
"You can't change the rules in the middle of the game," she said. "That would be like adding 10 yards to the 50-yard dash but not telling the runners until they're at the 20-yard mark. People pace themselves."
(Well, some people.)
Meanwhile, as the storm continued to take its toll - forcing the cancellation of hair appointments and preventing babysitters from relieving snow-weary parents - the concept of compensation (from whom it was not clear) seemed to take hold.
One man who had spent hours shoveling out his car, his wife's car and his parents' car suggested a subsidy along the lines of what the goverment gives to farmers.
"I'm working this hard and I'm an urban dweller?" he said. "What's going on? I have to do back-breaking work for hours just so I can drive? What happened to modern society?"
Though the storm was still raging outside, he tried to build a case against it. "The weather was very nice just a few days ago," he said. "We were out at the playground on Thanksgiving."
I agreed with him about the unfairness of the whole situation, and together we came up with a plan. From now on, instead of real winter, we'll have Catalog Winter. There will be plenty of snow for sledding, but it won't interfere with grocery shopping. In fact, it won't even be cold.
And - this part we'll get in writing - we still
get to drink hot chocolate.
