Ice Ice Baby

I am not a Vanilla Ice fan, but my parking lot and the sidewalk leading to it are a sheet of ice. I imagine that if there is ever a tsunami here, then living on a hill will be a real bonus, maybe even save my life. During this hellish ice storm, I pray every day that I don't fall and kill myself.

Wednesday as I was walking outside my apartment during the end of storm, my landlord's son, K, was shoveling the snow from the steps. I had planned on walking to the T, because I didn't want to deal with driving in all the mess. I stepped off the last step onto the sidewalk and almost fell. So I stood there paralyzed with fear. Should I try and walk? How long can I stand here? It was freezing and raining ice. Would that be ricing?

K said he would shovel a path to the street, so I could walk. I don't even remember if he did, but I know he offered. I was afraid once I got onto the street, I'd still fall, because I had to walk down the hill, then further down in the walk, I have to walk up and down more hills. It's a great walk, but not on ice. So I'm standing there and I start babbling to K how I don't know what to do. If I fall and break something, I'm in trouble. I have nobody to help me, and I live on the second floor. I don't have any paid sick time where I work. I won't be able to pay for my health insurance if I can't work. All this stuff is spinning in my head and I'm freaking out. So K says, do you want me to just give you a ride to the T? I happily accepted. And I was able to walk home from the train later that night. That was my Valentine's Day.

When I went to leave for work yesterday morning, the ice was even worse. I was able to walk on the lawn to my car, because the snow on it was crunchy and had some traction. K drove up and was trying to get rid of all the ice, but said that the stores in Quincy ran out of salt. Great. I drove to work and parked in the garage in my building, because I couldn't deal with anything else.

I leave work last night and I'm all psyched for Ugly Betty and Grey's Anatomy. I'm driving down Newport Avenue and in front of me see one of the biggest potholes I've ever seen in person. I couldn't move or stop in time and my car just fell in it. I saw my hubcap spinning off in front of me, then the hubcap took a left and made a U turn. I pulled over. Got out of my car, ran into the street and retrieved it. I was so happy that I was able to get it. So I put it back on the tire, which appeared normal. I get in my car and start driving and it's not so normal anymore. Why did it not even occur to me that my tire was flat? I pulled over, got out of my car and saw the flattest tire that I'd ever seen in my life. And the hubcap had gone missing again.

I called AAA and they said that someone would be there in under three hours. It was freaking freezing out. The wind was whipping and the wind chill was probably in the single digits. I decided that I would try and get my car across the street into the North Quincy T station and park it there, call a cab and deal with this in the morning. I drove over, called a cab, then called and cancelled the AAA call. Then I get a call saying that the AAA guy is already there and looking for me. I look up and see the truck in front of me. If I hadn't moved my car, I wouldn't have seen him! So, I cancelled the cab and my spare tire was on within five minutes.

When I got home, not only was the sidewalk and parking lot still ice, but the lawn was now frozen over into ice as well. I tried to walk and slipped. I made it from the parking lot to the sidewalk and it was taking forever. I gave up, sat on my butt and slid over to the stairs. That was the only way I was not going to fall.

Now, I'm going to get a new tire and then go to work. I fear I will have to do the same thing to get to my car, but it will be a bit harder, because I'll have to slide uphill. God help me and bring Quincy some salt.