Alabama - and maybe all Southern states - becomes completely discombobulated at the mere mention of snow. We can't adequately prepare for something that happens 2 or 3 times a year. And because of liability issues, our public schools close on a dime, making every human effort to get the kiddos home before the roads freeze and Bubba goes out sight-seeing.
I had several stops I wanted to make on a loop through downtown Birmingham: the jewelers, where my necklace has languished for weeks; Trattoria Centrale, to pick up some salad dressing; Wolf Camera, to drop off some slides for prints to be made; and Whole Foods. I still needed to do some cleaning before guests came over for dinner, so I figured I could be home by 4pm, with time to spare for last minute tidying.
I was getting ready to leave at 11:30 when I spied my hubby's laptop by the couch where he'd left it on his way out the door that morning. I sent him a text, asking if he'd like me to drop it off. "Sure! And we can go to lunch!" Lunch with Stephen is worth a kink in a schedule, and I figured he meant "Cantina" a wonderful Mexican restaurant we frequent.
We had a chance to really talk over a simple meal of fish tacos and shrimp bisque. The conversation continued and freezing rain fell as we drove back to the shop and parked the car with the engine running. I think we were both enjoying a moment of closeness we don't get often enough, so we sat and watched as the frozen rain turned to small, and eventually fat fluffy snowflakes that "poofed" on the windshield as they landed. I walked in with him as we continued our visit, and when I left the shop at 2:15, I noticed the street was jammed with cars. Very unusual.
I pulled out and headed back toward town and Trattoria, which should have taken about 10 minutes, but took 45. The traffic was bumper to bumper, and people were ignoring lights and blocking intersections, trying to be the last one through a light, then finding no room for their car as they entered the intersection (one of my WORST pet peeves).
WHAT IS GOING ON!
I made it to Trattoria at 3:15, picked up the dressing and kissed my daughter (smiley face), then jumped in the car and headed to the interstate just a few blocks away. HA! Sitting on the entrance ramp was a cop car, blocking the entrance.
What I didn't realize was the schools AND the interstates had been closed. I can only imagine the chaos in downtown offices as frantic mothers headed for their cars to retrieve children schooled 25 miles away, and then found they couldn't get to them.
The result was dreadful.
I couldn't get on the interstate and 1st Ave N, which would also take me home, was in gridlock, bumper to bumper traffic that didn't move during the several cycles of lights I sat through. I headed back to the shop and waited for Stephen to finish pulling in a car and turn things off. He knows Birmingham so well, and had already figured out a way for us to get home, back roads all the way to Trussville.
It worked. Progress was slow but steady, and we made it home by 5:30, after being passed by numerous ambulances, sirens blaring. At one light I checked Facebook, hoping a friend had posted something about the traffic snarl-up, and found a post that a school bus in Pinson had rear-ended a car and pushed it into a ditch.
Apparently, Bubba drives a bus.
My day wasn't ruined. I had nothing absolutely pressing to do, unlike those harried moms who must leave work in the middle of the day and try to retrieve their children. But I do marvel at how a little dust-up in the weather can turn a city on its (r)ear.
What we do in the South for fun with real snow :)
No comments:
Post a Comment