August 20th 13 years ago. Now, why is that rattling around my brain? Oh yeah, November 20, 2000, the longest miserable day of my life! Five hours trying to get out of downtown Buffalo in a freak lake-effect, perfect storm. After twenty-three minutes in what should have been a 6 minute ride to the on ramp of the 190 Westbound thruway I gave up and decided to cut through South Buffalos old first ward instead. Eventually Id cut across to Abbott road which, because the hospital was there, would be cleared. Id be able to pick up the 219 expressway to the suburbs. so, I pull off of Elm street to Michigan Avenue and then take the first turn towards the ward, but traffic is going nowhere. Im only five or six cars from the light, but its gridlocked. Another twenty minutes and I get out to see that one car is holding up our lane. I go up to the car and there is a man, late fifties, sitting there with his engine running, the car in park and his hands arent even on the wheel. He is staring straight ahead and doesnt even acknowledge my presence. I look at the traffic behind us and I see other men, big men getting out of pickup trucks and suvs and there is not one with a smile on his face. I knock on the drivers window. Nothing. I knock again and then I look through the windshield. The driver snaps out of some anxiety induced narcoleptic freeze and rolls down the window. You alright? I say. What? Uh. oh. Oh, yeah Im alright. Well then youd better get in gear and move, because there are some unhappy people coming this way. Without another word, he puts the sedan in gear, rolls up the window and turns away. Back in my car, I follow. The snow, which has been falling in a predicted, steady accumulation has intensified and it is really coming down. There isnt much of the wind we associate with lake effect snow, but the lake temperature and the cold air and the land temperature generate wet and heavy flakes that are alre3ady jamming up roads. Id left the office just shy of two hours early and I was now losing time. I came up to a four way traffic stop. It would be all four way stop signs all the way to Seneca street. Im driving a Honda Acura, which has a very low clearance to the ground. A bolt of lightning streaks in the sky against the dark grey billowing snow clouds. Lightning and snow are not ordinarily something you see at the same time. Things are growing ominous by the minute and in twenty minutes, the sun will go down. A car is stuck in the middle of the next intersection and I have a shovel in the trunk. I help dig out the car. At the next intersection it is two cars. Then three at the next. Then there are cars stopped in all directions and we all get out and dig and push or pull to get the stuck cars out. Another hour of this and Im needing five minutes to get up to a stop and twenty minutes to dig and push my way through and so on for each intersection. The snow is just coming and coming . The lightning lights uo the sky and there is thunder, another winter anomaly. Im now soaking wet and the cars transmission is getting a horrible beating. I notice cars pulling off the street Im on. There are fewer people to help shovel and my little Honda is not doing well in the deep ruts of snow. Finally, after four and a half hours, Im alone; after three cars refused to slow down to help. Karma my ass! Id helped a good twenty five cars dig out. I was cold, wet, pissed off, hungry and tired. I realized the people who passed me just didnt have the energy to help. I pulled to the side of the road, well sort of, the ruts made control impossible and the undercarriage of the Honda wedged against the roadside snow bank. I couldnt go anywhere if I did have the energy to dig - which I did not. So much for Seneca St, which the radio reported as plowed. There were dry clothes in the trunk as I was staying out in the suburbs for a couple of days . Id borrowed the car for some appointments. My folks was out of town (Florida .) With the car locked up, I made note of the location and landmarks, covered in white as they were, and headed off. I climbed a hill and first saw a school bus stuck in the road with kids in the bus. Then I saw a Metro Bus Public Transportation bus, also stuck, also full. How long have you been here? I asked a kid hanging out the school bus. I dunno. the kid said, but it was still light out. Nobody was driving anywhere. I needed to find shelter and I was starving, and shaking with wet and cold. My clothes felt like they weighed about twenty pounds and there was wet snow down my boots, that cursed ankle freeze from childhood was returned to haunt me again. The first place I found was a bar. Im a recovered drunk. Wrong place for me, but I had to find shelter. I went in and asked if there were any restaurants nearby. Pizza place four blocks that way. But they may not be open. All the food joints ran out of food after the weather guys said to forget about dining in for the night! He laughed at his own joke. When the bartender said this, he pointed in a direction that was away from where Id been headed, To tell the truth, Id already lost all sense of spatial orientation about two hours before that. Trudging off, I found the pizzeria and they were, to my great relief, open. I sat in a booth and changed my socks and shirt and sweater. The pant would have to wait, but I didnt know how long Id go without a place to sleep and I thought it best to keep a dry pair unused for later use. The pizza smelled better than anything Ive ever inhaled and I asked for a slice. Sorry, no pizza. This was a blatant lie. I have a poor sense of smell and even I knew there were pies in the oven. Look, Is aid, Im cold, wet and tired. Its late, youre tired, so, Ill try to be as nice about this as I can, but Mr. I smell Pizza. Yes you do, but its for the school. After that Im going home to a warm fire and a cold beer.? School? He said a school? That might be a place to sleep. In fact, they might have to let me stay, schools are emergency shelters. The cashier offered me a coke on the house. I sat down to nurse it and wait for the school people to get their pizza. When a man showed up to pay for the pizza, I topped him, introduced myself, told him of my plight and asked if I could seek shelter at the school. The Man, whos name, I was too tired to remember the instant he said it, introduced himself. I do remember the rest of the conversation. Im the school principal and I guess it would be alright for you to stay there, but with one condition. I was dead on my feet, I couldnt do much of anything, but I asked him what the condition was, anyway. You carry the wings. Ill carry the pizza. I carried the wings. They gave me little cartons of milk and juice and some cookies and let me sleep in the teachers lounge. I had to hang my clothes on an old steam heater in order for the coats and sweaters to dry. I had a pair of long underpants in the bag and another pair of dry socks after the snow in my boots soaked through the ones Id changed into at the pizzeria. By 8:45, almost seven hours from leaving work I was asleep on the lounge. I awoke early and called my brother in law to bring his pickup truck, chains and a snow blower to get me out of South Buffalo. In the bright sunshine, the snow was already melting. We need only to get the Honda down the road about seventy-five yards to clear driving. from there I went and other block and realized that Id been two and a half blocks from a snowplowed Seneca Street when Id gotten stuck. I have never been so wet, cold, hungry and exhausted in my entire life. The worst exhaustion I can remember and I missed getting home by two and a half blocks... November 20, 2000. I still shudder to remember it.
Posted on: Wed, 20 Nov 2013 03:43:15 +0000
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