Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Snowpocalypse 2010

The one thing I dread about owning a car is what happens when it snows. The roads get messy and slippery and my car likes to pretend it is ice skating and then my knuckles go white as I grind my teeth and think of selling my car.

New York City got hit with a huge blizzard that covered the roads giving me a “snow day” from work. Well, sorta. I still had to work from home and as I looked out the window of my building at the snow covered cars and drifts next to them, the realization of the other job I had to do sunk in.

I had to dig out my car and it was plowed in. I got myself bundled up and went out side with a friend who was nice enough to undertake the dreaded task with me. When I got to my car, I found this.


Ugh. This was going to take a while. I started to dig with my plastic blue expandable shovel. The pile of snow on the side of the road was getting a bit bigger but I still was not through the wall of snow between the clear road and the car. We took turns heaving the snow when my friend realized the handle was popping apart from the shovel. We would need to find another one. So off he went to see if any store wasn’t sold out. I keep shoveling until the handle snapped and I was left with just the scoop.

He came back without a shovel and we had to go trek through the snow to find a store that still had shovels in stock. The small hardware store close by had two choices left a huge wide shovel or a large garden shovel. I figured the garden one would fit in my truck. $25 later I was back to digging.

After about 20 minutes, a man arrived and started to dig out his car, which was in front of mine. He had no gloves and was doing a very bad job. He was complaining as we continued to dig. Then he came up with a plan. If he helped to widen the space we were digging, I could move my car out and he could back his car out of the space and move mine back in.

It seemed like a good idea with less digging for me. Another guy asked if we wanted help and he said we did and he would pay him. I stood back and watched the space get bigger and bigger until my car could fit through. I was able to get it out without much of a problem. Then the other guy had to move his car in reverse, which proved to be a bigger problem since he hadn’t shoveled any of the snow away from his tires.

Once his car was out he got a phone called and wandered away leaving me to try to maneuver my car back into the spot. The other guy was telling me how to turn my wheel and how to get my car back in for about 10 minutes. Until he told me he doesn’t drive so has not idea what he was saying. Thanks, dude. Then the other car guy came back and apologized casue he was on the phone with his friend who was in jail. What did I expect parking on the Spanish Harlem border?

With the combination of pounding on the gas in reverse with 3 guys pushing on the hood of my car, the Camry was back in its spot. The guy paid the other guy $20 even though all he asked for was $11. How freaking weird is that?



Two days later, she is still there because I fear if I drive to work when I come back to the city there will be no parking spots at all.