Snow Day

Snow day.

Two words that immediately bring forth whoops of excitement in almost any child,

Snow Day

At any other time of the year they bring to my mind a book from my childhood with pictures of twilight lite Christmas snow, tinkling bells somewhere in the background, and my mother reading the words…

“And I heard him exclaim as he rode out of sight…”

Snow day,

From the vantage point of the top of a 26 story artificial mountain made of glass and steel the words take on a whole new meaning. Far up amidst canyons of steel mighty air currents form rivers of wind in a city that has the moniker “windy” applied to it.  Snow is rarely satisfied with simply flowing downward – usually resorting to sideways and even up, making it difficult to tell onset of any,

Snow day

But even if the occupants of the steel mountain are not readily able to determine the strength of the impending storm, someone, somewhere is watching, waiting and makes a decision, determining it to be a…

Snow day.

As the storm intensifies co-workers begin to search their memories for tales of a particular day gone by with the words “The great blizzard of” attached to it.  The image of a cartoon from my from undergraduate days flashes through my mind – a cartoon called “escaped from the zoo.”  The picture portrays anthropomorphic animals in the guise of students (not a large stretch in those days) listening to a radio. The caption reads “this just in, hell freezes over and The University of Illinois WILL remain open.”  A small notice flashes across my computer screen with the subject heading of an expected message…

Snow day.

Of course anyone high enough in the ranks of any business to declare a snow day would never dream of couching it in those terms.  We must, after all, use the proper terminology.  Sufficient unto the situation for most of us would be a phrase beginning “get your ass out of this office.”  Instead the subject line reads…

Hazardous Weather Conditions

Now the snow day has taken on a new bent with a bit more malevolent intent.  Perhaps the storm itself does not actually have feelings beyond the attempt by the buildings occupants to cast them upon the events.  Perhaps it does.  No matter.  Down at ground level switches in rail yards stretching out to the suburbs like a giant web begin to freeze shut.   Public transportation is delayed and even cancelled.

Cancelled

The word flashes across computer terminals at the two regional airports.  Those intent on traveling begin to make their way back to hotels.  At the same time a mass exodus begins in the business district; the transitory populous leaving behind only security guards, police officers and those who pilot the many forms of public transportation.  Trains and busses are crowded like human cattle cars turning what would normally be a comfortable ride to S.R.O. – standing room only.

The journey home that would normally take an hour now takes two.  By the time we reach the front steps they are barely passable. Inside we count ourselves blessed that the larder is full and both the electricity and the gas are still on – it was not always so.  There was a time a few years ago when we were at the center of a disaster area and without power for a week.

The hours wear on, the storm outside turning into a blizzard.  Trees, now barren of their leaves, bow against the howling wind that begins to pile snowdrifts against the side of anything in its path.  Early evening becomes late night and the driving snow outside is joined by tumultuous claps of thunder and lightning arcing across the sky.  Snow plows have given up the attempt at clearing side streets, and a blanket of snow covers the area making it impossible to tell where the street ends and the sidewalk begins. And then, as lights in the neighborhood houses go out, the occupants settling down for a long winters sleep, disaster strikes….

Somewhere in the vast reaches of New Eden a battle is taking place.  The captain of a lone Rokh class battleship has drawn a line in the sand, daring an invading force of pirates to cross.  Turrets flash, hurling chunks of plutonium across a distance of 100 kilometers.  The pirate ships return fire with missiles that easily cross the reach of space between the two ships-of-the line.  The flagship of the small Caldari fleet faces off against that of the Angel Cartel, the pirate vessel finally down to armor, the shields having collapsed. Then it happens.

New Eden winks out of existence.

As the winds howl outside, the lights flicker inside and somewhere on a server in London, England, a Rokh class battleship goes into emergency warp, the captain cut off from her corner of the global village by a downed line, the victim of the blizzard that rages outside.

The last light in the neighborhood goes out as the snow drifts outside reach the eves of houses, burying cars, driveways, and blocking in front doors.  Snow shovels wait just inside front hallways and snow blowers sit at the ready inside garages for the break in the blizzard, for tomorrow will be another

Snow day.