Right? I recently read a book by an author who appeared to be confused to the point of paranoia by how many of the 1960s rock musicians from California (Topanga Canyon scene) were from wealthy or politically connected families.
Although it started out pretty entertaining, I didn't make it all the way to the end of the book. I mean - has he never met that type of kid? There's no conspiracy beyond wealth and connections. Banal to the point of boredom.
It's honestly not that bad, assuming the power doesn't go out. Or that it's not followed up by freezing rain.
No one goes to work or school for a couple of days. People usually stock up on essentials in the days before the storm. (Milk, bread, butter, eggs... the old joke is that everyone has a sudden urge to eat French Toast.)
Plows usually start early, while the snow is still falling. Plow and salt crews work night and day. They're on call (and paid a stipend) during winter for this exact reason. The main streets are prioritized. Residential streets are going to wait a couple of days before they're clear. With nothing else to do, the adults start digging themselves out and helping their neighbors dig out. It's a hell of a workout and a good reason to check on elderly neighbors.
Basically, you wake up, say "fuck this shit," call in (or not, because your boss isn't at work), and go back to sleep for another few hours. Then you start digging.
A city that doesn't get that much snow can get overwhelmed, though. Mayor Mel famously called in the military to clear snow from Toronto back in 1998-ish. That was only a meter, but the city didn't have the resources to clear it - or more importantly - any free space to put it.
Buffalo though? Buffalo has their snow systems down.
Pretty much. Buffalo routinely gets hosed by blizzard conditions that don't usually affect the cities on the northern side of the same lake (Toronto, Mississauga, etc). It's feature of being on the south side of one of the Great Lakes.
I remember hearing about one year where Buffalo got 6 feet overnight, or some other complete bullshit.
It is. And coins are small enough and common enough to be found/stolen/bought and easily carried off as loot.
Plenty of ancient coins were "re-distributed" to the west in the last 20 years from Afghanistan and Iraq. I knew a guy from work who had a small collection he bought while serving.
I also happened to be visiting a local coin shop and overheard an unintentionally funny conversation about loot.
Rando: I have a
<lowers voice>
'German flag' that I'm interested in selling.
Clerk: Those are pretty common, so we probably can't give you much.
Rando: It's an OLD
<lowers voice>
'German flag'.
Clerk: Look, I'm guessing it's the Nazi one? Those are super common because every soldier brought one back as a souvenir.
If it's not already apparent, I like coins. And if I were a common soldier wrapped up in a war, I would absolutely pick up any interesting spare change I came across. Wouldn't murder anyone for it, but if it looked abandoned? Absolutely.
I'm with you on the stress of travel and family holidays. Like, I'm paying for the priveldge of flying 1500 miles across 3 time zones into the middle of nowhere in dead winter and we're (checks notes) eating Thanksgiving dinner at a Golden Corral? Oh, and you're all aggressively crazy 80% of the time. Cool.
To be honest, it might actually be a better time for me if they gave me side-quests to accomplish instead of asking me to join in on the weird family activities or expecting me to entertain them.
Anyway, I've learned to say no to all of that, but it's hard. It should be easier with the in-laws, but it's not. They can successfully guilt my husband and then I have to be the one who says no to him.
I do have one practical bit of advice. For what it's worth.
Do you have any young nieces or nephews that could help with these projects? It might be more fun for you if you could do some mentoring with them while on the job. Even if they can't physically help with lifting or whatnot, you could explain some of the concepts. I'm remembering - My dad taught me how to rewire a lamp when I was about 10 or 12 and it's both a useful life skill and a reasonably fond memory. Of course he was mainly just sick and tired of rewiring the old electric lamps that my mother kept buying at flea markets. Now that I think of it, it's pretty much the same deal with how I learned soldering. And mixing/pouring concrete for post footers. (And see? here I am bragging about my mad skillz /s)
I'm serious, though. It cold be a win - win if the kids are amenable. It nurtures both learning and relationships. And if the kids have the know-how, your skills may be in less demand next year. You might be promoted to job site supervisor rather than random unpaid labor. ;)
Super cute.
Super-Cuter-ie? (sorry - I'll show myself out)