Arontius of Bygelswade

.....I left the office at 3:30 and rushed for the parking garage. The Shipyard had been letting people go on liberal leave since the noon hour, but I'd been busy and couldn't break away. Besides, while I was rushing around this morning the snow hadn't been that bad on the waterfront in Bremerton, and certainly not sticking. I was in for a surprise when I finally stepped outside and saw what the afternoon had brought! I hadn't been paying attention at all the wind or the falling snow.

.....When I stepped out of the Burwell Gate my heart sunk a little. Every road leading out of town was full of cars that were not moving fast at all. When I started up Suzie, I gave some thought to taking the Manette Bridge and the back roads home. But I kept seeing the steep hills and unswept roads in my mind and decided to stick to the main highways. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not.

.....Took me an hour to get from the Parking Garage to the Warren Ave. Bridge. People doing silly things all over the place on the roads, with stuck cars periodically blocking passage. By the time I made it to the bridge, I couldn't decide who I disliked more - those who were stuck in granny gear and going two miles an hour. Or those people who were weaving and bobbing all over the place in their four wheel drive trucks. But after the bridge things improved a little bit. The stop-and-go traffic was a bit more steady in the 'go' department.

.....The winds were blowing little eddies of snow all over the ground. Looked like wisps of fog that dry ice produces when you throw it in water. It was mysterious and fun to watch. The wind would periodically come up and blow waves of snow across the road as well. Everything would obscure for a moment and the traffic would come to a complete stop. It was rather cool to watch really.

.....Out in East Bremerton, the cars were having a more difficult time on the side roads. On McWilliams, just up the hill from the Safeway there were at least three cars that couldn't seem to make it over the hill. That hill is less steep than Fairgrounds, so I was kind of glad I decided to take that turn instead.

.....Took me almost two hours to get home in the end. Suzie was a real trooper. I never gave a whole lot of thought to the concept of 'all wheel drive', but I have much more of a respect for it. I only slid once, and that was when I was stopped on a hill at a red light and accidentLly gunned it when it turned green. No chains and no extra weight.

.....Watching the weather now. Looks like were not even going to get above freezing until Thursday. I hope that Thanksgiving isn't affected. Richard and Gwen just called. Power is out at their house and they were thinking of making the trek here. I'm kind of glad Gwen decided to stay home. It may be dark there, but I think it'll be better than braving the roads and watching out for automobile grenades. About an hour later though the tables turned. They regained their power and we lost ours for a long while. :-)

.....Oliver and I had a quick conference and decided that we would wait until tomorrow morning on whether or not to cancel Fight Practice. But looking at the weather I'm not holding out much hope that Fight Practice is going to happen. Which is not that much of a loss. With it being Thanksgiving I'm sure attendance was going to be a little less anyway. And it is always better to take the safe road. Oliver wanted to just cancel outright tonight, but I convinced him to wait until tomorrow morning. I think he probably had the right idea in the first place. But I'm the eternal optimist. :-)

.....Going to be a cold night. Hope the morning commute is a little better.

.....Aaron / Arontius.