fuck winter

hi. my name is heather and it's been over ten days since i've driven my car.

i parked it in its spot behind my apartment building after coming home from having dinner to celebrate my dad's 75th birthday two saturdays ago. then it started snowing. then i went away for christmas, during which time it seems never to have stopped snowing.

by the time i got home (after a normally 20-minute trip from the ferry terminal taking almost 2 hours due to yet more snow), my car was utterly surrounded by the white stuff. snow was piled over a foot high on the roof. the snow on the ground reached above the bumpers and almost entirely obscured the wheels.

then my neighbour dug her car out, but piled all the snow behind my car. there's this teasingly snow-free area just a foot to the west of liselotte. unfortunately, i lack a crane or superhuman strength to lift and move my car into the snowless section. there also doesn't seem to be any hope that my building manager will even consider digging out the parking lot. hell, he wouldn't even leave a shovel for me to do it myself.

so, i've been taking public transit to work. oh, and i'm filling in for my officemate while he's on vacation. this combination means that my alarm clock turns itself on at 4:45. that's a.m., in the morning. and, i have to be at the bus stop by 5:45 a.m. again, in the morning. if i'm lucky, and i don't slip and fall on something (like i did this morning) or the train doesn't get delayed at a station because some dumbass wouldn't let the doors close (like yesterday morning), that gets me in to the office at either just before or just after 7 a.m. yes, that's still the morning.

i don't know, have i mentioned that i recently had an MRI which revealed some fairly substantial damage to my left knee? ever wonder what happens to an injured knee when it suddenly has to spend a lot more time than normal walking in slippery, unstable, snowy conditions? well, i'll tell you... it hurts! and, shockingly, when the work day also suddenly requires a lot more walking and heavy lifting than usual, it hurts even more! not to mention the requirement of wearing quite possibly the worst pair of shoes for someone with osteo issues, complete with steel toes to add extra weight and less comfort, it's a recipe for lots of yucky gimpage.

this is only day two and already i'm near breaking. it doesn't help that i landed square on my one remaining good knee when i slipped on the icy sidewalk this morning. it was a fairly graceful landing -- reminiscent of a curler throwing a rock -- but wholly unnecessary and unwanted.

the small glimmer of hope is that tomorrow could be a short day at work, what with it being new year's eve day and all. then, i'll have a day off to recover, during which i hope to beg, borrow or steal a shovel to dig out my car and, hopefully that will mean an end to this ridiculous getting up early and hour-long commuting.

after my week on the island with the luxurious ten hours of sleep a night and lazing about on the couch, knitting and watching television, this working shit is really getting me down. too bad i like a roof over my head and food in my fridge so much, or i'd call it quits right now.

update: not five minutes after clicking "publish", my boyfriend showed up at my door holding my very own blue snow shovel -- which he's currently using to dig out the hessmobile mark II. how awesome is he? excuse me while i go order pizza to feed him when he's done.