spring is springing

 Aah, spring. Time for... wet, sloppy snow.

We got hit sometime in the overnight into the morning with a surprisingly large amount of snow. I looked out at around 5:30 this morning and saw a good 8 to 10 inches on our back deck, although the forecast said 3 to 6 inches by noon.

I was scheduled to work at 8am. No notification from the college, so figured travel must be fine. HA! Maybe the snow was just a fluffy 8 to 10 inches? But... March is not the time of year for fluffy.

And no, it was the sloppy heavy spring snow. Thank goodness for the transit bus, I thought. Staff shortages had cancelled the bus that goes to the college last fall, but the route was recently restarted. Although I'm a little less than two miles from campus, this was not a day to walk or bike or even drive my teeny-tired Toyota if I didn't have to.

I trudged to the bus stop. While there, a diehard runner when loping by, high-kneeing it through the thick mass. It wasn't particularly cold out - about 25 F - nice for morning run if you like loping.

Anyways, I made it to campus a few minutes early for my shift since I'd ridden the bus. Maintenance crews were busy plowing, shoveling, salting... Parking lot was still pretty empty.

I got into the testing center, shook off the snow, removed the outerwear, fridged the lunch, then headed to the ladies room. That's when the announcement came over the PA that the campus was closing for the day.

Whaaaaat? Announce the closure at 7:40am when classes and other facilities start at 8am? People were already out fighting the weather traffic wars trying to get in, or, like me, had already arrived. 

Okay fine. Another day of inefficiency to go along with Friday's inefficiency. I headed back to the testing center to redon the outwear, grab the lunch, etc. 

*Locked*

Yeah, once campus closes, all the doors - inner and outer - are automatically locked by security. Badge access means nothing. So I had to go to security and have them let me back in.

Then I realized, the bus to take me back home was due to arrive in about 10 minutes. I needed to hightail it off campus and cross a busy road to get to the stop. Throw the outerwear back on, grab the lunch, zip up and go!

Made it with about one minute to spare. I figured, if I missed the bus, I could Donner Party it back  home if I needed, but the sidewalks were a mess - covered in road vomit thrown up from the plows.

Despite the plows, the roads weren't a whole lot better. The bus arrived, and I was all glad I'd booked it to the stop. Then... the bus got stuck. Of course it did!

Bus driver spinning the wheels, back up, go forward, spin the wheels, back up, go forward, spin... We'd get it going just enough, but then the flow of traffic wouldn't give space, so we'd have to stop and be stuck again. 

I was almost ready to get out and push. A transit bus. Just for at least the illusion of productivity. Then I realized I was glad I'd stopped in the restroom before leaving campus.

This went on for maybe 10 minutes until a bus employee with a bright vest came out and blocked one of the lanes of traffic so the bus could reenter. Back home. I WILL do something productive.

tldr: snow day!