Hello Weather Let's Play Together

As soon as they find out I’m from California, New Yorkers say things like, “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh. How are you dealing with the weather?” And they always say it in this heavy you-must-be-so-depressed-let-me-be-very-gentle-with-you voice, as if I’m going to break down and start crying any minute. As previously mentioned (and sure to be written about ad nauseum), the weather is really the least of my challenges coming to terms with NYC.

But then comes the snow. Alright, so what does little old Californian me know about snow? Since I started my life in Alaska, my only perception of snowy climates is that of the great north. Moving to NYC, I expected we’d have snow on the ground for several months and lots of really gray, really cold days. So this winter, which is supposedly one of the worst in recent years, has hit me as an amazingly pleasant surprise. Sure, we’ve had a few snow storms, but in comparison to my expectations, they’ve been mild!

And then, NYC shut down. Schools closed, trains and buses stopped running. And I was house-bound. With children.

Really – need I say more?

We don’t actually live on Manhattan; we’re in one of the outer Boroughs (Astoria, Queens, to be exact), but are very close in and very close to a subway line. Out here, though, the “subway” is actually an elevated train. Until the snow hit, it didn’t occur to me to consider the logistical challenges this might pose. I actually quite like riding the train above the buildings, seeing all the cool graffiti, and then plunging down into the tunnel to go under the river and into Manhattan. There is this almost-fairy-tale aspect to it – crossing a barrier and entering another world. I emerge from underground on the most densely populated island in the world and my life across the river is a distant memory when I’m in the City.

The last big storm was just two weeks ago and we got a whopping 12 inches. Down on the streets, the plows come and shove all the snow off to the sides, burying cars in the process. Then the people come out and they dig out their cars, shoveling 10 ft. mountains of snow in front of the fire hydrants and around the trees. Street corners become virtually impassible caverns of melted and re-frozen slush to be slogged through and I have discovered the sensation of walking on the beach when trying to get to my front door.

And when the streets are buried in snow, imagine what the two-story-high train tracks look like. I have no idea what they do to actually clear the snow off the tracks, or how they do it without injuring anything below, but it is not a rapid process, let me tell you. So when it snows a lot here and we have a snow day (rare though they may be), we are really and truly struck.

And I pay homage to Nintendo and the makers of Wii. Thank you lords for developing something that keeps my boys engaged and active for literally hours at a time. When you live somewhere that isn’t really equipped to handle lots of snow and you end up with a “snow day,” well, it’s really not all that it’s cracked up to be.

Funny enough, we’re actually moving into Spring and the chances of more snow are extremely slim. Ah, but here’s the rub – RAIN. As I write this, there is thunder, lightening and huge drops outside. Now you can use the you-must-be-so-depressed voice on me.