My lengthy ride to work -- which at its longest goes about an hour and, in slow periods like the week between Christmas and New Year's, can be just under half an hour -- was made longer by a pair of snow storms this and yesterday morning. Yesterday's only dropped a couple inches, and I think this one this morning will as well. But because they came at the absolute worst time (during the morning commute), plus I don't think I've been totally acclimated to winter driving, plus I don't believe anyone else has totally acclimated to winter driving, plus I still am driving what I regard as a new car (which, BTW, I am driving through the winter for the first time) and so I really don't want to get into an accident, led me to make the decision to take side streets all the way from the north to the south metro. Not too long ago I thought that was impossible. But all I have to do is jog down Central, get to Washington, and take Cedar all the way to work.
Now, it takes a long time, and I certainly wouldn't use it in perfect weather. But for the shit hits the fan, like it did yesterday and it did today, no goddamn way will I risk driving a little fast on the highway just to hit a patch of ice, or some dumbfuck to think he can drive normally and rearend me. And if I'm late, I have the perfect excuse. It's one of the reasons I like working here.
I did not know, however, how backed up Central Avenue was going to be. Maybe other people are freaked out about driving 55 in this weather like I am, or maybe I just never drove through this stretch of road during morning rush. But for a good, oh, 2-3 miles I was stuck waiting, get this, 50 minutes to an hour. Only when a bunch of cars took a left onto University where traffic there loosened up. After that it got a little faster, even though after that gargantuan bottleneck I still had half the metro area to go through.
Yesterday I drove off at a quarter to eight -- when I normally leave home, which probably was a mistake knowing the slowdowns I know I would suffer through. I got to work a bit past 9:30. It took me an hour and 50 (although it could have been 40) minutes to get to work yesterday. That is the longest time I have ever taken to drive to work. And by God, it sucked. (And oh, by the way, I got stuck at a red light in one of those triangular intersections that are too old to be grided, and some asshole honked at me and then, while passing me by, looked and jerked his arm towards me like he was saying, "Get out of here!" We are in the middle of a fucking snowstorm, everybody's driving slow and stupid, and I'm the problem? Me, in a car that you easily drove past? Go fuck yourself pal. I wish I was to give him the finger after I honked at him. I should muster up the courage to do that next time.)
So that was soul-sapping. But at least I got to work in one piece, and safely. The drive home wasn't that bad; about 40-45 minutes in fact, which is typical. But we were inbetween snowstorms. The one that hit this morning similarly paralyzed cars, although the snow was drier and much less wet this time around. I also opted to take the same very slow way, though. The weather may not have been so bad this morning or people remembered how to drive from 24 hours ago, because I left at around 7:40 and got here at around a quarter after 9 -- 90, maybe 100 minutes. But again, I'm safe and sound.
I really hope a storm doesn't hit during morning traffic, like, ever again.
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