It snowed here in New York City on Sunday – a lot! We got at least 20 inches of snow. I heard on the radio this morning that it was the sixth largest snowfall that the city has ever gotten since record keeping began, which was probably in the late 1800’s.

I couldn’t get into work yesterday. I guess I hadn’t realized how much snow had fallen overnight, so I got up a little earlier than normal, went through my normal pre-breakfast morning routine, and then decided to take a look at my computer. I checked the website of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), and guess what – the subway line that I take into work was out of commission. That line runs in on outdoor, uncovered gulley for the most part, so snow can easily accumulate there. Given enough of it, trains just can’t get through.

I never even left home. I developed three rolls of film from my trip to Japan instead.

Today was a different story. I checked the MTA website when I got up and, unfortunately, my subway line was still out of service. However, another subway line – this one elevated outdoors and close to where I used to live – was back in service but with delays. If I could get to one of its stations, I could get to work, even if I might be late. To get to a station, though, I had to take a bus that stops a couple of blocks from me. I decided to give it a try.

I should never have left home.

Walking toward the bus stop, I saw a bus making a turn as it’s supposed to do at that corner. “Great,” I thought, “the buses are running!” Then when I got closer I saw that the bus had no passengers, but its lights were flashing. Next, I saw the driver slumped against the window, apparently dozing. Then the sign in front reading “Not In Service.”
“What the hell’s going on here?,” I wondered. I walked down to the next stop, where I spoke to some people walking by. One man told me that the bus had been stuck in that spot since the day of the blizzard – two days ago!

I knew then that it would not be good, people saying that they hadn’t seen one bus running this morning. I walked on in the other direction, toward the supermarket where I’d go to get a few things to take home if all else failed. Waiting at the bus stop across the street, I spoke with a man who’d been waiting for about an hour and a half and hadn’t seen a bus. Then another man came by who said that three buses and an ambulance were stuck in the snow further along the buses route, indicating that no bus was likely to get through.
He did make another suggestion: walk several long blocks up to the next main avenue, where I should be able to get a different bus to that one working subway line. “Why not?,” I figured. “I’m out here already, so I might as well give it a try.”

Before I even got to that avenue I heard people along the way saying that no buses were running there, either. Still, on I went on the odd chance that a bus might actually go by. I gave up after about twenty minutes. By that time I'd been looking for a bus for over two hours. No bus seemed likely to go by, and even if it did, there’d be a good chance that I’d have to stand on it (if I could get on at all) and on the subway, too – and my bad foot was already hurting me so much that the prospect of having to stand for a couple of hours more was unthinkable.

So, in the end, ‘twas all for naught. (Well, maybe not all. I did get a gallon of milk on the way home.) What lay in wait tomorrow morning is yet to be seen. All I know now is what the MTA website says: right now, my subway line is still not working, and neither is the bus I need as an alternative. Wish me luck.
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In keeping with the snowy theme, that’s another photo of Goddess Angie and Jypsie Nahmana in the snow during my trip to Ohio in February.
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Finally, I'm thinking of switching my blog over to Wordpress to avoid people being put off by the annoying warning page that people have to deal with here and to publish my photos full size if I so desire.
With that in mind, today I created a blog account at Wordpress and posted this entry over there. It's all very rudimentary now as I need to figure the whole thing out, but please take a look here and let me know what you think:

http://figuresofgrace.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/snowbound-blues/

Thanks.

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