Posted by Jim at January 31st, 2004

It’s 18 degrees Farhenheit outside. The forecast high is 20.

Sadly, I genuinely enjoy the temperatures between 10 and 20 or so. The air feels wonderfully clean. Even the cold isn’t unbearable if you’re wearing a coat and gloves. Moving doesn’t hurt either. I think that I feel the cold more when I’m sitting at the computer writing than I do when I’m outside.

Thursday night between 10:30pm and 12am, I shoveled the driveway. Except for the snow, I enjoyed it. One constant problem with shoveling snow is that when the city’s trucks go through, they push all the snow off the road and into the driveway, making it completely impassable. Worse, they usually do this the day after you’ve completely cleared the driveway of snow, making the whole thing seem pointless.

Thanks to the pressure of cars’ tires, the snow on the road is a mixture of ice and snow, not the light, fluffy stuff you find on your lawn. By the time it turns into a foot and half high pile at the end of your driveway, it is nothing but densely packed chunks.

I spent an hour and half shoveling, scraping and sometimes digging. Overall, it was okay, but I don’t recommend it to anyone looking for winter fun. Or people with heart conditions.