Snow, Ice, and the Taunt of Sunshine

It snowed early on Saturday, another especially chilly day, and the snowfall was apparently legendary. Silly me -- I had already decided that I was travelling to the south part of the city to visit an (apparently) great branch of the public library system. The snow was too thick for my scooter to move through without losing all forward momentum even as the wheels spun. Though I had suspected this day would come, I was not aware it would be so soon. So I left my scooter behind for a journey.

Fortunately for me, the route I took was hardly a new one, and I did get to spend much time in a heated bus. Watching the snowy terrain pass me by. Seeing the city in another light under this weather. I discovered that sitting areas were unfortunately quite sparse, and generally covered with snow. I learned that the sidewalks can be hard to see without the passenger signs indicating them. It was incredibly easy to step into the road accidentally. At the least, my scooter would have suffered more from falling off the sidewalk. The lengthy delays to the bus would have happened either way. And going to the library meant going 30 minutes farther than I had gone previously -- under normal conditions.

The library was close to the bus stop, but I still had to walk through snow. My boot-lite shoes kept me in check, just as my mom had predicted. The library was not extraordinary but its simple interior and elegant exterior were quite nice. I much preferred it over the library in the other big city here. Just a well laid out building, with plenty of areas to study. And study is what I came to do -- I came to write.

But I felt so sleepy, and accomplishing work was incredibly difficult. I realized that perhaps getting here should be called the achievement and then made my way to get food quickly before going home. This gave me the excuse to check out the Town Center close to the library. But despite its huge sign, I had trouble finding it! The excessive white outside forced me to turn around many times....until I finally ended up there. (It felt longer than it was.) There I quickly scanned the food court, went along it once, and decided to go back to my first idea: an Indian stall. I got drowned-in-tomato-sauce butter chicken, which was completely fine (for what it is). But the amount of sauce made me sleepy again. I wondered why I even bothered as I made my way back to the bus. Fortunately, I did not have to wait for the bus too much on the way back, and was able to return home.

Though the morning had been inaccessible to my scooter, I noticed that the snow had been partially cleared.

Sunday still had the repercussions of Saturday, but I used my mobility scooter to get to the station nearest to me. It was a bumpy ride, making lots of sound, but no damage to me. Just inconvenient. Still I notice that right outside my building can be the most difficult to get through. I did not leave my building for most of the day. Once in the "city" proper, I found getting around easier, albeit with bumpiness again. I made this journey to have coffee (hot cocoa in my case) with someone I had recently met. So I was feeling a tad nervous about that, let alone all this snow business. And then I learned that the cafe we had picked was....not accessible. So I left my scooter outside. However, we talked for 2.5 hrs -- around the time in months we had both been in the city -- which clearly indicates we had a good time! It more than made up for any other issues I saw.

And now, today -- on Remembrance Day -- I tried out routes and discovered some are not accessible. My usual route, however, still seems accessible as long as I bear in mind the bumpiness.

But this weekend I have been working so much on optimizing my routes. How can I safely get across the city and the university? Without a doubt, the pedways will come in very handy. But I still feel completely in the process of figuring things outs.