Having grown up there, we used to call the Thruway strip from Syracuse to the Pa. border the "frozen Tundra" It would be dicey every year from November thru April. You could leave Rochester in the sun and get to Syracuse and find a whiteout. Same thing going west to say, Amherst. Lot of hockey trips with two-way radios (pre cellphone days.) The Great Lakes are a weather wonder. I do feel sorry for those in Western NY this week. It ain't no joke. I don't know how are forefathers made it.
I was reading something, once, about the Great Blizzard of '88—the one that hit NYC real late, almost in mid-March, 1888.
A lot of people died in the city—I think it was over 200 in Manhattan alone—in part because of just where we were in industrial and transportation development.
A hundred years earlier, everyone would've known to just stay inside and hunker down. A hundred years later, there would've been enough ploughs, ambulances, and the like to get through the snows and save people. But in 1888, there were just enough modern conveniences for people to go out and get stuck on the elevated rails, have their horse-drawn transport get stuck in snowdrifts, etc.
Why so many people don't know enough to stay out of their cars and off the roads today...I dunno.
"in part because of just where we were in industrial and transportation development."
That's a really interesting theory.
As to what's going on now, I figure some of it is desperation as in "the power is out and we're freezing let's try to get to grandma's house." Some of it is arrogance. and speaking first hand... some of it is stupidity.
I remember sitting in my friend's van during a hurricane. We went out to smoke a joint and "watch the wind blow shit around".
After a few minutes I realized that we were a page three story in the New York Post. "Moron Stoners in Van Killed By Falling Tree while Grooving to Hurricane."
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Sorry to hear about all the deaths upstate. What the hell's going on?
ReplyDeleteHaving grown up there, we used to call the Thruway strip from Syracuse to the Pa. border the "frozen Tundra"
ReplyDeleteIt would be dicey every year from November thru April.
You could leave Rochester in the sun and get to Syracuse and find a whiteout.
Same thing going west to say, Amherst.
Lot of hockey trips with two-way radios (pre cellphone days.)
The Great Lakes are a weather wonder.
I do feel sorry for those in Western NY this week. It ain't no joke.
I don't know how are forefathers made it.
Interesting, Archie.
ReplyDeleteI was reading something, once, about the Great Blizzard of '88—the one that hit NYC real late, almost in mid-March, 1888.
A lot of people died in the city—I think it was over 200 in Manhattan alone—in part because of just where we were in industrial and transportation development.
A hundred years earlier, everyone would've known to just stay inside and hunker down. A hundred years later, there would've been enough ploughs, ambulances, and the like to get through the snows and save people. But in 1888, there were just enough modern conveniences for people to go out and get stuck on the elevated rails, have their horse-drawn transport get stuck in snowdrifts, etc.
Why so many people don't know enough to stay out of their cars and off the roads today...I dunno.
Hoss -
ReplyDelete"in part because of just where we were in industrial and transportation development."
That's a really interesting theory.
As to what's going on now, I figure some of it is desperation as in "the power is out and we're freezing let's try to get to grandma's house." Some of it is arrogance. and speaking first hand... some of it is stupidity.
I remember sitting in my friend's van during a hurricane. We went out to smoke a joint and "watch the wind blow shit around".
After a few minutes I realized that we were a page three story in the New York Post. "Moron Stoners in Van Killed By Falling Tree while Grooving to Hurricane."
We went back in the house.