Snowpocalypse 2019 : In a Lighter Vein
Mick (Mrigank) Das
This is an off-the-cuff piece started on my bus commute and finished during a meeting where my full attention was not entirely necessary, but my presence was... it is barely edited so excuse any foibles. The title is
sardonic and somewhat self-deprecating yet with a large dollop of probity. This blog tries to capture the
madness that ensues when people and local government authorities have to react
to the really cold weather descending from the Canadian valleys, the purveyors
of almost mystical wintry fronts evocative of Disney's Frozen franchise..
The first of these
snowfall events happened on a Friday and the subsequent ones happened on a
couple more days between Feb 5 - 12… For perspective, the snow that Seattle got
would be considered by many in the Midwest cities like Minneapolis or Chicago
as a springtime dust-up in a park lined with cherry-blossoms worthy of
indulging in outdoor frolic, but for
Seattlelites it was time to constantly flit between panic and anxiety and utter
a stream of OMGs and expletives to temper their quickening pulse rates.
Fortunately the city's burgeoning economy has attracted people from much more
hostile climates, so by day 2 or 3 of this weather, kids could be seen influenced by their buddies
who grew up in more snowy weather sledding down blocked-off downhill roads or
any steep topographical structure they could land their bums on…
The days preceding
the Snowpocalypse were the most hilarious, especially in the grocery stores.
Grown men and women whose body shapes hardly resembled a finely chiseled
Olympian were rivaling the form of Usain Bolt down the aisles of supermarkets
to theatrically grab away such prosaic items like a case of dozen brown
eggs. Just like Olympic Gold and Silver
separates the last bit of skill and will,
the silver medalist came away with the last of the white eggs, prompting
a rather beatific smile and fist pump from the winner and a more subdued but
still smug grin of the runners up who pipped the also-rans who had to think of
which store they must venture to next… :) Bread and cereal aisles were a close
second in witnessing the athletic display of the common folks. Men and women were showing their dexterity in
being able to cradle a veritable loot of loaves of bread, gallons of milk, a
bottle of OJ and a couple of bags of pasta…!! Several shopping carts proudly
showcased a half dozen boxes of their favorite family cereal and large
quantities of bottled water which would normally be a two month supply!!
I wasn't immune to
this bedlam of last minute emergency shopping. I was singularly focused on
finding two more Bic lighters - these are the gas lighters you use to light up
the gas cooktops. Mimi was down to her
last one, and the last Bic was already used for a while. It was a race against
Father Time… I went from one store to the next with my kid and the treasured
commodity was out….I doubt the Conquistadores were seeking gold in the Inca
lands with such fervor and frenzy. It
was a chess match; where would the hordes go to find the Bic lighters that I
should not :) :) .. Finally kazaam!! --
the light bulb went off. I figured out a
possible option - a drugstore named Bartells which wasn't under mob siege as a
possible place. It was next to a Safeway
and a Trader Joe's, two grocery stores which were attracting heavy traffic. So
I went in there and I encountered bitter disappointment in the aisle which had
the kitchen and housewares. Nothing.. Nada.
At this deflated juncture I did walk very very
s-l-o-w-l-y past some hard liquor and single malts and I was temporarily
tempted to fall into the charms of the amber liquid as many of '83 friends do…
I really was; maybe it would get me back up from being forlorn to being on a
High! As I listlessly walked back past
the store checkout clerks I saw by the corner of the last checkout person, a
small tilted display case of 3 rows of gleaming Bic lighters!!!! Only 7
remained… but I only needed two, so elation and jubilation supplanted the dire
mood I was in.
On the flip side,
beauty was on display too… Disney's Frozen embodied. At night, one friend
remarked that the photos looked like Thomas Kinkade paintings… and they did. In
the mid-day, it was a great thrill to walk around in the neighborhood and feel
the vibe of a wintry wonderland, and click a couple of pictures for memory. The
streets lined with trees looked beautiful like you were seeing a movie screen
shot of a colder city with the beautiful frosting on the tree branches, a
painting with bold brush strokes of white and off-white framing the familiar
landscape in an ornate cape of ivory.. Local news was also extremely riveting; the best part was laughing at the brave yet foolhardy few who ended up in ditches, or rolling back off a hill with the braking system of scant succor...
Human behavior also
lent its entertainment power. I saw at
least a couple of adults with their supercilious confidence step out of their
cars, or run towards their bus home and run into a surface of slick ice and take
an ungainly tumble. You also saw the
grace in the fellow citizens; valiantly grappling to squash their urge to laugh
at the plight of the fallen and instead mutter their civil inquiries as to
their well-being and genteel offers of help to pick them off the turf and
retrieve their strewn belongings.
This wraps my little
column on the snowy ten days in the third coldest February in the Emerald
city's history of recorded temperatures. Leave a tRail :) if you wish… Thanks
