How do they do that? The Dopler Radar is almost within spitting distance of my office. Across the road is the National Weather service station. The prediction for Sunday (day) was "possible snow showers". I can live with that for a five mile ride. Just before I left the house I checked "weather on the 8's", on the Weather Channel. The phrase, "possible slushy mix" sealed my decision not to ride.



Taunton, Ma. at 7AM on a Sunday morning is very quite. The streets, the temperature and the lack of wind were like Sirenes, calling all bike riders. One could almost envision thier song and beauty calling, "ride your bike today, ride your bike today".




The snow began around 9AM, and by four o'clock quitting time, bike commuting would have been very challenging. It could have been done safely traffic wise , but because part of the route would be riding a bicycle through the Asylum grounds, (in a snowstorm, at dusk), there would have been a good chance of an encounter with the staff.

The drive home was slow, the plows were out in numbers, and the 5'6 guys in their big ole SUV's and pickups, still don't realize that everyone can go fast, but the bigger you are, the more you spin and slide and crash and roll. By evening however, the wind was howling and the snow showers had turned into a whiteout. Even the dogs would not venture off the back porch.


Monday began by shoveling almost a foot of snow out of the driveway and walkway. A foot! Not bad for a prediction of 1-3 inches. I guess they use American Football standards, and multiply everything by 7.

Things are looking good for Tuesdays commute. According to the weather service.

Stormy Sunday

A stormy winter Sunday is not so bad. Naturally I would rather be outside biking or hiking, but there are things to do on a day like this.

There are some television channels that, on Sunday afternoons, show some great old movies. Hitchcock's "Rear Window", "Vertigo", "Notorious" and "The Wrong Man" are some of my favorites by him. There are also some more recent movies that I also find really good. Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, Dusk till Dawn, Babel, The Motorcycle Diaries to name a few.
Today however, I have three lined up,

"Snatch" with Brad Pitt, Del Toro, Dennis Farina et all

"Fearless" with Jeff Bridges

And the classic, "in the heat of the night" with Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger.

If nothing else they will help me get through the day at work.

Snow Stories

The forcasted ten inches of snow was right on the mark. As usual the weather service was correct. The flakes began falling lightly around noon and by one oclock the ground was covered with and inch or so. As the afternoon progressed, so did the intensity and accumulation.



People began leaving the office around 3PM. I went oustide to see the traffic backup up to my building, which is just under two miles from the entrance to the industrial park. Stories of people taking hours to thier destinations were everywhere. TV, radio, interned and personal tales. The one thing that was common was that very close to 100% of the cars, trucks, etc. had one occupant.

The point of this whole thing is that one occupant traveling is the way things are. Traffic moving very slowly in a storm is also natural as is complaining about it. I just find it ironic that the loudest complainers are the cause of the whole mess. Those solo drivers often in a vehicle built for 6-8 people.