It makes a change from the freezing seas

[sovay]

Indeed, it is snowing. I left the house through drifts that came up past my knees. I took my camera.



Early in the morning, before the snow really got going.



Later in the afternoon, when the going had been got.



For the first time all winter, I had to leave the house wearing my leather jacket instead of corduroy. It did not occur to me to take a picture of the drifts past my knees, but our street had been ploughed in only the most technical sense—it was actually blocked by a car that had stalled out sideways in the snow a few houses down from ours; the hood was up and the driver was on the phone—and most of the side streets presented the same slogging prospect.



I liked the lighting of snow against the brick. Not pictured: the two people who went by the end of the street on skis.



I liked the reflection, too: a pane of winter. Gerda, look behind it for Kay.



It wasn't quite whiteout conditions, but the end of School Street disappeared in the snow.



By way of postscript, the counterpoint to this morning.

By the time I returned, the third-floor neighbors were heroically clearing the thigh-high drifts between our front door and the merely ankle-high drifts of the street; I offered a hand, was assured they had it under control, related my parents' story of moving up from Philly just in time for the Blizzard of '78 to the neighbor who was shouting with each shovelful, "Why did I move to Boston?" It is still snowing, clouds and snow-wreaths skirling in the streetlight. I feel I should be watching Scott of the Antarctic (1948). I believe the plan for tonight is actually Ice Station Zebra (1968).

Comments

[thomasyan]

I remember asking co-coworkers if the forecast had predicted wet snow or dry snow, and they said dry, which I took to mean it would be pretty powdery and easy to shovel. Where I live, a service comes in to clear the walks and plough the main paths, and tomorrow morning we're supposed to be available to move our cars out so that they can plow out the parking spots. But that still means we need to dig out our cars enough to be able to get into them and drive them, and I thought I'd do that and check the mail. The wind had piled up some snow against the door, so I had to shove the door against it, and they hadn't shoveled the path in front my door, so I got to shovel a small path. Even if the snow was originally powdery, the wind and its own weight had packed it quite a bit.

But happily it was indeed not wet. So at least tomorrow the car probably will be covered in mostly snow, rather than ice.

I hope we get some warm weather before much more snow comes, as opposed to half a decade ago when we kept getting clobbered, and MA ran out of room for plowed snow, and the outside unit for our central air got iced over and needed rescuing. (Tip: pour water slowly over ice for best effect, otherwise most of water will run off without accomplishing anything. You can try this on your own, such as on a plane flight, when you have a cup full of ice and a can or cup of soda/juice, and compare dumping it all over the ice or slowly dripping/dribbling it over targeted bits of ice.)

[thomasyan]

huh, why do I sometimes use "plough" instead of "plow"? weird

[sovay]

huh, why do I sometimes use "plough" instead of "plow"? weird

American English is less standardized than it thinks.

[alexxkay]

Especially among American Anglophiles.

[sovay]

Especially among American Anglophiles.

But I know very few Americans who use spellings like "colour," defence," or "recognise" unless they are being deliberately British, whereas ones like "plough," "grey," and "theatre" are widely accepted alternatives. I don't know what governs the latter category, but it definitely exists. And the Oxford comma is basically flip a coin nowadays.

[alexxkay]

That largely accords with my experiences, with a few exceptions:
*) I was thinking specifically of a friend's childhood experience of a teacher marking "grey" incorrect.
*) I was also thinking that "theatre" is a bit over-represented, because people using that word tend to be Shakespeare fans.
*) I have personally been immersed in Alan Moore prose so much for the past few years that I have recently found myself inadvertently using the -our ending for color, flavor, etc. and having to correct myself. Which in turn reminds me of the period in high school when, being on a diet of Doctor Who, Monty Python, and Hitchhiker's, I found myself unintentionally slipping into a British accent sometimes.

[sovay]

I was thinking specifically of a friend's childhood experience of a teacher marking "grey" incorrect.

I'm sure of it. I have been published or reprinted in markets that prefer "gray," even though I use the other spelling myself. But I also see a lot of "grey" in American publications and I don't see a pattern to it.

I was also thinking that "theatre" is a bit over-represented, because people using that word tend to be Shakespeare fans.

I was thinking of the number of theaters that use the spelling, like the Somerville.

I have personally been immersed in Alan Moore prose so much for the past few years that I have recently found myself inadvertently using the -our ending for color, flavor, etc. and having to correct myself.

That's really interesting.