(no subject)

[winterbadger]

I just got home.

I left work at 6.30.

Thank God for (a) my Matrix (it drove smoothly through ice and snow that was bogging down scores of other cars) and (b) the 24-disc recording of Alastair Horne's book about the Algerian revolution that I had in the car.

This is officially DC Snowpocalypse I for 2011.

Comments

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

7 hours! Are you kidding?! That must have been hellish. Did you get stuck at any point, or was that all just creeping along? You must have been awfully hungry and thirsty, and really in need of a bathroom.

If it would make a difference next time, feel free to bail and come to our place.

[winterbadger]

Thanks to the mellifluous voice of the reader of my book and the intricacies of the political and social history of French Algeria, it wasn't too bad. But at the end I was getting very sleepy.

I am very glad I used the toilet just before I left work! I stopped at one restaurant not too far from work, thinking I would have dinner, at least, and see if the traffic had thinned out and the roads been better cleared, but they had closed early. :(

I didn't get stuck, even in slippery, churned up places that others did. I am thanking my lucky stars for my lovely AWD Matrix with good tires!

I wasn't nice enough to get out and help other people, but I was struck by how there were people at some of the places in Reston where jams were becoming common who had either stopped to help others or who maybe lived nearby. A couple of tricky spots had gangs of half a dozen or a dozen men who were just wandering around pushing and digging. Really nice of them!

Thank you for the offer of shelter; I considered driving through DC as an alternate, since I knew before I left that the Beltway was bad (though in the end the Beltway was the easiest part). But then I started thinking about all the news stories I've heard after snow storms of where the biggest problems in the metro area are, and they are (naturally enough) usually where there are rapid changes in elevation. And there's no route into DC from VA that I could get to that doesn't involve either that (or driving a serpentine route through all of Northern VA to get to it). But if I'm ever stuck at home with no power and Metro is still running, I may turn up on your doorstep. :)

Timeline:

left work ~ 6.30
stopped at restaurant near work, closed ~ 7.45 (about a mile)
got to Dulles Toll Road ~ 9.30 (about three miles, total)
got to main toll gate on DTR ~ 10.00 (about 9 miles, total)
got through main toll gate on DTR ~ 11.30 (about 10 miles)
got onto Beltway ~ 12.00 (getting a bit hazy on times here) (about 11 miles)
got across AL Bridge into MD (home, hooray!) ~ 12.30 (about 13 miles)
got home ~ 1.45 (about 28 miles)

[winterbadger]

One of the things that bugs me is that the government folks I work with all got told to go home early and got excused absence (administrative time off). Now, they may not have sent them home early enough, given when the snow came, but all us contractors just get told "consult your company" which means no time off unless you take vacation. So I stayed at work because I don't want to lose vacation hours because of snow. So I ended up not getting home until 0-dark-30, at which point I *did* decide to take today off because I wasn't about to go to bed, sleep for four hours, then get up and go to the office in time for today's break-of-dawn-scheduled staff meeting. But if anyone raises the issue of getting time off for bad weather, we're told that's too great a financial liability for the company's profitability. Perverse incentives!

[redactrice.livejournal.com]

Oops, looks like coming to our place wouldn't have helped. According to this morning's Washington Post: "One of the worst traffic jams was on 16th Street NW, where drivers were in bumper-to-bumper gridlock from the White House to the Maryland state line. It took one Washington Post editor 5 hours 20 minutes to make a six-mile trip home along that route."

Yikes!

[winterbadger]

Yeah, I can't really think that driving into the city is a good plan in the middle of a big snow storm. But I appreciate the offer.

[azbound.livejournal.com]

And this is where one word can totally sum up my thoughts on this:

DUDE.

Of course, you're missing so much by not hearing the tone of voice in which I'm saying it. But again:

DUDE.

[winterbadger]

:-)

Yes.

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I have NEVER been in a commute like that, though I know other people who have. And no, I wouldn't have been to work the next day, either. YIKES! Glad you made it okay.

[winterbadger]

Thanks! I need to go out at some point and clear the snow away from my car so I can get out tomorrow, but I'm going to wait and let Mr Sun do some of the work. :)

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

I remember Mr. Sun. He used to show up here a lot but not recently...

[winterbadger]

As I recall my Richard III, you only get Mr Sun there in summer. Or in York. ;-p

[carolinab.livejournal.com]

Love a good Richard III reference. :) Sorry your commute was so yucky. We live on a hill in Arlington and it was sad watching so many drivers getting stuck. Side note: I just went through and removed my double-spacing between sentences, just for you....

[winterbadger]

Love a good Richard III reference. :)

*courtly bow*

Sorry your commute was so yucky. We live on a hill in Arlington and it was sad watching so many drivers getting stuck.

Yeah, every time I thought about changing my route last night I thought of all the YouTube videos of cars sliding down hills and all the state cops on the news talking about backups behind tractor-trailers that couldn't get up slopes. And that cured me of detours. :-)

Side note: I just went through and removed my double-spacing between sentences, just for you....

Now that's friendship! :-)

[zoefruitcake.livejournal.com]

shocking :0(