Meltdown!

No, not me, despite all the stresses I've been complaining about. Literally, I mean the snow, accumulating on the ground and building up since before Thanksgiving. We're finally having a stretch of warm weather, and the snow is melting down.

It was pretty bad. Snowbanks left by the plows were so high that you had to pull out into the street in order to see if any cars were coming. Sidewalks were narrow, icy, lumpy - and that's the ones that were shoveled! The rest were simply impassable to anybody over, say, 25. I have seen the piles at the edges of parking lots as high as 30 feet, judging by how high they towered over trucks parked next to them or how they obscured trees behind them except for the very tips. Street parking was - still mostly is - pushed out to half a car width from the curb, leaving less than a double lane for moving traffic down the streets. It's either a test of Minnesota Nice manners or a game of chicken when two cars meet. Some blocks had a few narrow, high-walled access points from sidewalk to street, available if folks parked their cars with a thought given to not blocking them. If not, well, there was a hike down the middle of the street to access another cutaway, hoping to dodge any cars using the same street as you were.

Really, it was ugly. With bad knees, every step wobbled the legs and made the bones grind against each other.

But - Halleluia! - we're having a nice string of above-freezing temperatures during the day and the snowbanks are dropping, sidewalks and driveways and streets are appearing. One still has to be wary of the refreeze when driving in the mornings or walking into the house after dark, but still, it's melting. With care, there's level footing with traction again. It's safer to turn corners. It's possible to get a carwash and have the car mostly clean for several days now. There's no need to scrape icy windshields before leaving the driveway. I even spotted a tiny patch of green grass at the base of a tree yesterday, and stopped to stare at it for a minute.

Of course, there are downsides. Potholes hide under puddles, so care must be taken when driving over what looks like smooth surfaces. Trash is reappearing. Snowbanks are turning black, which helps speed further melting, but really, it's ugly. The whole world is turning from white to dingy grey, brown and black. It needs a good washing.

Really, it's ugly.

But so, so welcome.