Katie has started her new job as a 911 operator, which meant I had to walk down to the public safety office to pick up the car when I was done with class. Which I did. It took me a half hour. That's not so bad, I've walked longer for more trivial things. The walking wasn't the obnoxious part. I got these boots, see. They're new. Got them yesterday afternoon in fact, right in the middle of a snow day (in which the sun was shining, but I still didn't have to go to class).
Now you must understand something about boots and me. I have never worn them. I have never before owned a pair--that I can remember--not even in the bone-chilling frozenness of two Ukrainian winters (I just wore thick socks). How can this be? you are asking yourselves. Ukraine? Utah? U never wore boots? (See what I did there?)
No, never. I grew up in southern California. In the middle of a desert. There were mountains that got snow nearby, sure, but I never visited. I have never had an interest in skiing or snowboarding or snowshoeing or snowhiking or snowfishing or snowanything (see? I did it again!). But, I knew that the "blizzard" we had this week would necessitate a change in quo. This, because I knew that a situation like the one today, that I penned down in the first paragraph, would happen at one least on time while there would be snow on the ground. So boots I purchased.
Did I mention that the city of Lawrence has a severe deficit in sidewalk shovelers? It's an epidemic! Even on campus, piles of snow that one has to traverse in order to get to and from class. Absurd. Oh, also, did I happen to let it drop that there's also a major dearth of paved sidewalks on major roads here? No? Oh, because that's true too.
So I walked to the car. A good half-hour jaunt from the library. Up and down a ridiculous hill, covered in snow and ice and shadow. Through about a half mile of near-virgin snow atop a non-existant sidewalk. Having to run across intersections because cars that were going too fast on the hills could may well have skidded into me. Breaking in a new pair of snow boots.
Yes, they are branded as 'hiking boots' on the box, but I swear I had no idea I'd be trudging over hill and dale on day one.
Oh well, lesson learned. And now I have a new pair of boots. And the car for the night.
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