I made it to work this morning. The commute was relatively normal but when I walked the five minutes it took to get from the bus stop to the studio, I knew my journey home was going to be an adventure.
Some parts of the sidewalk had been shoveled but not enough that you could make solid contact with the concrete below. It was a combination of slush and a thin layer of hard packed snow. Walking up the street was reasonable but I knew that the slush had all day to freeze up into ice.
On the way home, I reversed my trek and it was treacherous. Sheets of frozen ice covered parts of the sidewalk. It was actually safer to walk on the snow located to the side of the sidewalk because the snow offered more traction. In some areas, there was no snow to go and I had no choice but to risk it on the icy sidewalk it self. I nearly slipped and fell twice. I made a conscious choice to slide across large patches of ice because that felt safer that trying to walk it.
This happens every single year it snows. The municipality never clears the snow properly from the sidewalk and I think it’s pretty dangerous. I overheard one of my coworkers say that she wants to bring a plastic sled with her to work so she can just sled down the sidewalk to the bus stop instead of trying to navigate it on foot. That’s a great and fun idea!