Snow Day

My alarm went off at 6:20 am as it had done every day this entire week. I dragged myself out of bed to quickly get ready for work so I could catch my 7:12 bus to the airport. When I stepped outside, I stepped into a blanket of snow and was immediately dusted with more of it blowing down at me from the sky. It was a fine, crystalline snow - not big flakes - so it must have been quite cold. I was wearing my thick corduroy jacket and a fuzzy hat. The cold didn't bother me, but the snow stuck to me like white on rice. I trudged and crunched my way to the bus stop; a 5-10 minute walk depending on my mood.

Not a lot of cars out on the roads at this point because it was not only early, but the streets were almost inhospitable for driving. Luckily enough, my bus came despite it all. So, I settled into my seat and cracked open the book I've been utterly enthralled in over the past week ("Prey" by Michael Crichton). There was only one other passenger on the bus besides me. I wasn't really paying attention to the snow because I had my nose buried in the book. Suddenly, there was some loud chatter (in French) over the driver's radio. Then he pulled over to the side of the road, plowing into the curb as he did so (couldn't see where the road ended and the sidewalk began). He got out of his seat and told us the busses are stopping because of the snow. He asked me if I was going to the airport (the last stop of the line) and I told him that I was. He apologized and suggested that I take a taxi.

That's how I found myself back out in the blizzard, getting quickly re-dusted with the white stuff. Unfortunately, we were outside the city in one of the surrounding residential areas. No other public transportation available besides the parked busses. There weren't any taxis driving by either and I didn't have a cell-phone to call one. I stood there for a few minutes, hoping that a taxi would drive by. No such luck.

The blizzard was really starting to pick up by now. I decided to keep walking along the road that the bus should have been driving. That way I could get back on if they started running again and I would also be able to flag a taxi if one ever came by. Walking to work from there was not an option. At this point, I think I said to myself, "This is not the way to start your day."

After walking along this road for 10-15 minutes, I saw the main road, Leopold Laan. This road shot pretty much directly into the airport (5-8 miles from where I was) and I was my best chance for catching a taxi. I had given up on the busses by this point. Along the main road, there was a service road separated by a median. I walked along the service road, being blown quite vigorously from behind by the blizzard. Every time a new flock of cars came slowly driving by, I ran over to the median and tried to find a taxi.

This continued for about half an hour. I only saw one or two taxis and they were occupied. I began to despise everyone in a car that drove by without stopping to ask if I needed a lift. It was not reasonable to think that anyone would stop and I knew that, but you have to hope! To add insult to injury, a bus 12 drove by me, filled with passengers! It was not the one I had been on, so it must have been a later one that decided to risk it and keep going. I hated every single person on that bus!

Having walked about a mile or two (felt like 10), I ended up at NATO. There is a bus stop for my bus here and lots of car traffic, so I decided to take shelter there. It was now 8:00am and my shift was starting. My bus was scheduled to stop there at 8:08, so I thought I'd see if one came. From my vantage point, I'd also be able to see taxis.

No bus came, but I finally did see a taxi that was dropping someone off at NATO. I quickly took the chance. The driver seemed a little reluctant to let this snow-covered yetti into his nice Mercedes at first. He didn't quite know where the Da Vinci Corporate Village was, but in simple English and broken French, I managed to describe where it is located. Even in a tank-like Mercedes, it was not easy to get to the office building. But 16.75 euros later, I was on the door step of Bo-ny Europe's headquarters. The taxi driver said he was going home because it was too difficult to drive in the snow.

I sat down at my desk at 8:40am. After all I had gone through to get there, it was amazing that I was only 40 minutes late! There were only four or five other analysts there. My team ended up holding our ground until reinforcements started to trickle in. There weren't a lot of English or Swedish calls, but the Italian, French, and Dutch lines were suffering. Some people never came in and others were 3-4 hours late. By mid-day, my pants and socks were finally dry. Those of us who came in for the early shift were asked to stay and help out the middle shift in exchange for being able to come in late or leave early one day next week. I didn't mind doing it because it was a fairly quiet day call-wise and the vibe in the call-center was kind of fun. Everyone was acting a bit zany, like kids on Snow Day.

Despite the complications, it wasn't such a bad day!

-RP-