Life

Winter schitzophrenia

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happysurveyNew England is known for its winters and snow storms. We all remember last year’s record breaking snowfall that showered the social media with repetitive pictures of “snow”. Even we, sitting on the other side of the globe could not take it anymore. This year however, is the opposite. We have had so far a very mild winter, and some of us hoped that we can get to spring without having to shovel our door steps.
This evening they announced a snow storm on its way for tomorrow. It is still well above 10C and very hard to believe what is awaiting us for tomorrow. The schools are closed and the talk I had to give tomorrow was canceled. I can not complain. 
While I am walking home at 10 pm from my Italian class, I have a flashback to almost 12-13 years ago. I was in Boston for work that day. They had also announced a heavy storm for the night but the weather was so nice that I was sure they had made a mistake! I decided to stay and have dinner with a friend before driving back to PVD. 
Around 11 pm I got in my car, drove on very dry streets of Boston, got on the freeway and headed south. I thought to myself, how could they be so mistaken, there is no way a snowstorm is going to come. In less than 20 minutes, snow flakes started to hit on my windshield. Shortly after I found myself driving on a slippery road, fog lights on, going on low gear and repeating to myself: “Whatever you do, do not push the breaks”. But then, there was that one second when the car before me hit his break and I did the same automatically. As in movies, my car started to do pirouettes in the middle of the freeway. While I was turning in my car and waiting for a huge crash, I started to think about all the hassle of  dealing with the insurance company, my imminent trip home for Christmas break, and my fondu party that was planned for the next day … And then suddenly my car stopped opposite all incoming.
My whole body was shaking, but I stayed focused, pulled the car out of the freeway and spent the rest of the night in the nearest hotel (as stupid as it sounds) waiting for the storm to pass. For this, the american TV is a champion, they talked so much about the blizzard that I thought I am going to spend the new year in that hotel.
The next day, I drove the remaining 30 minutes in about 3 hours and got home victoriously. It had never felt so good to be home. I invited all my friends over, as if I had come back from an arctic expedition. From that day on, I respect the weather forecast and never adventure myself in driving without proper tires in snow.
For tomorrow, I am waiting to see how many centimeters we will get. I am very excited. Bring it on baby!