Last night my wife and I decided to brave a modern ice age with the children and go to dinner. Since it is winter, I doubt that this comment is quite cryptic, but allow me to set the stage a little, anyway.
We’ve had quite the cold snap where I live. I’m used to strange weather. Sometimes we have these weird ice storms that bring down trees and power lines, but it’s been a few years since anything like that has happened. This past week, though, the temperatures have been below freezing every day and this is unusual. It is an adjustment, to be sure. We are taking extra precautions to prevent our pipes freezing and bursting and, so far at least, we’ve been successful.
Not so for others in our community. I went to pick up my kids from their mom’s last night and some of the pipes in her apartment complex had burst. The apartments across the breezeway from hers were leaking water out from under the doors. This morning on the way to work I was slowed down by a blocked lane. Apparently a water main had burst and they were hard at work trying to fix it.
Back to last night. As we drove toward the popular fast food chain we had chosen to visit we passed a small motel whose North wall was covered in a sheet of ice. There was a veritable glacier that stretched about a quarter-mile down the street from the motel. I admit my sense of humor is bizarre. The car wasn’t quite warm yet and I nearly froze my lungs laughing in the frigid air. I apologize for laughing at the misfortune of others. It wasn’t their struggle that made me laugh, it was just the idea that the building had given up and vomited a mass of ice, as if the building were experiencing some sort of death throe.
After I survived my ill-timed fit of humor, we arrived at the “restaurant” and shivered our way to the front counter. I didn’t warm up the whole time we were there. There was a huge sign in the dining room boasting of the beef that’s never been frozen. They need to change that, at least until it warms up a little. I think it should say something like “Our beef is never frozen, but if you don’t eat it fast enough, you may make liars of us.” Some of the food froze in my belly after I’d eaten it. Every time someone opened the door, icicles fell out of my nose. I had to return my food and ask for the low sodium option because all the added salt of so much snot dripping into my food was overwhelming.
I bid you adieu…and a don’t.
Adieu…take small chances with the weather. You could go crazy if you stay cooped up too long.
A don’t…forget the tissues if you decide to eat in a glass room in sub-zero temperatures. There could be unpleasant consequences indeed.
The Bickfolo 