Post Twelve or Life in NY

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! As some of you know we had a white St. Patty's.

We must have gotten 8". Quite a storm! That's ROC for ya- late season storms. I knew we had at least one more good one before Spring would stay! That being said, I nearly ended up in a ditch again this morning- scary! Rear tires are on my list to purchase when our income tax refund comes in but, alas, I do not have them yet. They sure would have helped this morning! I was on my way to the gym (yeah for me!) and just couldn't get a good grip on the road. I was driving slowly and carefully and did not panic when I started fish-tailing. However, I'm rusty at snow driving plus my thin tires could not get a grip. So, I ended up doing a 180 and saw a pretty, snow-covered, yellow fire hydrant quickly approaching my brand new front bumper. Somehow, I managed to safely spin myself into a snow drift at the end of some one's driveway. All without hitting anyone or anything! I sat there shaking for a few minutes but also counting my blessings. It was then that I decided I absolutely am going to get a four wheel drive before winter in Alaska! Needless to say, I was in no shape for any more driving and went home. (truth be told I would have loved to park my van right there and ask someone to pick me up) Here is a picture of my front yard at 9am today:

Anyway, as the day went on the plows came through and there was enough sun to melt the snow/ice/slush off the roads. So, I ventured out and I observed something about "rude New York drivers" - something I don't recall ever seeing drivers from VA, SC, AL, or TX do. Oh, NYers have such a reputation for being bad/rude drivers. So, you ask, what did I see?

I saw emergency vehicles with sirens on and lights flashing barrelling down the road. And what did these rude drivers do? The pulled over of course- on both sides of the road! Seriously! Time after time while living south of the Mason-Dixon I observed drivers NOT pulling over for emergency vehicles. It drove me crazy. Don't they realize they are impeding assistance from reaching people in need? What if it was their mother/father/brother/sister/son/daughter waiting for help that was delayed because drivers would not take the 20 seconds to pull aside and let ambulances/fire trucks/police pass by unobstructed? Honestly, I rarely saw people pull over and stop, sometimes they would slow down but mostly they just kept on going. I started to wonder if it wasn't a law in the south. Perhaps it isn't. Someone enlighten me.