One More Week

Today, it was warmer and there was thunder. How I do love me some thunder. Oh yes. There's not the high quality of enjoyment there should be. It's going back to being in the 20's and teens starting tomorrow. Though there are some 40's in there, too, in a few days. The extremes annoy me, a lot. This sort of weather makes for some aggravation.

This morning, the roads were odd. All of the smaller, side streets were just wet. There was no ice on my car. Then, when I hit the first five lane major road, it was a sheet of ice, for the duration of my drive to the highway. I had to go pretty slowly. I was already late when I reached just a few stop lights away from my workplace. There was a police cruiser blocking the two lanes on my side of the road. No cars were driving down the opposite side of the road, meaning they'd blocked it down some ways I couldn't see.

Luckily I got there before there was any real backup. I managed to dip into a subdivision that led out to the back road to the store. I managed to get in just two minutes after my shift officially started. It was within my seven minute grace period, that the time clock uses to break down the quarter hours. It will go unnoticed. Others weren't so lucky. There were some who had normal 20 minute drives extended to 45 or more minutes. Apparently many people slid off the road.

Black ice might not look like much, when you compare it to those shots of four-foot blizzards, but it is deceptive. There always seem to be far more accidents when we can't see the ice than when we can. No, we don't get the massive blizzards that are photographed each year. We don't dip lower than a -20 degree weather now and then. The ice will kill you, though, if you're not prepared for it. Tornadoes and ice are the two lethal things here. (*I'd like to take this moment to remind you 4x4's won't do you any good on ice. And yes, your brakes will work the same as mine. Tailgating in this fucking ice is fucking stupid.)

I managed to avoid those who willfully ignore the dangers. I also crept along safely in the areas that were slick, and I am safe. My car is safe. The world continues to turn. And more cold is expected. Just in time for the worst week in retail employment. Yikes. This week is going to be hard. I do get three days off next week. Including a Sunday. We'll be closed Christmas. By default, I get that day off. That will be nice. I just need to get through this week, right?