I missed Festivus this year….

I didn’t Air my Grievances, and there were no Feats of Strength. And it was the weather that is to blame.

Let’s rewind to December 22 (Thursday). Get  up, and I’m greeted by a Winter Storm Warning from the National Weather Service (I have Accu-Weather installed on both my phone and tower). They were saying freezing rain. Hindsight being 20/20, I should’ve called off work. But I didn’t. Roads were fine, so off to work I went. I got my assignments from my supervisor, the first one being pulling the trash from the parking lot. Towards then end of that task, I noticed that it was raining, and parking lot was icing over (the freezing rain, as predicted). The rest of my tasks that night were inside, so I concentrated on them.

At about a quarter to 7, I got text notifications from Sound Transit that express bus service was suspended indefinitely. King County Metro was on snow routes. And Pierce Transit was suspending all service until 7 am (and then on snow routes). Normally, I’d take the 8 o’clock bus, but I decided to finish my Christmas shopping and wait for the 9 o’clock bus. At 8 am, Pierce Transit suspended service until 10 am. At about 9 am, I started to head to the bus stop (normally a 15 minute walk, but I wanted to give myself extra time because everything was covered with sheet ice. I barely got out of the parking lot when I got the text that Peirce Transit was suspending service until it was safe to drive. So I went back to work, and booked an Uber. Not cheap. I had a coworker who lives along Pacific Avenue, and so I adjusted my ride to add her stop.

Got off work at about 7 am. Got home at about 11:30 am. My apartment’s parking lot was thoroughly iced over, even the walks. But I made it home. And then at about noon, I realized that buses still weren’t running, and I was scheduled to work last night. I called out. Wasn’t sure if bus service would be restored, and I wasn’t really in the mood to deal with the icy walk to the bus stop. Sent an email to the location manager explaining my reasoning, and I went to bed.

While I was asleep, Pierce Transit finally started service at 4. I looked out the window, and saw the ice still in my parking lot, and decided it wasn’t worth it (and I had already reported my absence). So I stayed home last night.

And during all this, I forgot about Festivus. Oh well, there’s always next year.

Happy Holiday to all!