This column originally appeared in The Sun Chronicle on Friday, February 22, 2013
AN INSIDE LOOK
By Bill Gouveia
When we
were preparing for the recent blizzard at the Gouveia household (population now
down to two) we were readying ourselves for the worst. What we got was far from that, but still
enough for me to complain about.
With as
much as three feet of snow expected, we grudgingly engaged in the "storm
preparation" process. My wife was
much more loath to do so, not believing we needed very much. I was far more concerned about having
sufficient food in the house, and kept insisting we needed to make a visit to
the grocery store.
I may have
expressed this concern verbally once or twice to my Beloved (or it could
possibly have been 10-15 times, I'm not really sure). We were driving home together when she
finally saw the wisdom of my words and pulled the car into the supermarket
parking lot. When I then told her I was
missing the Bruins game, she expressed a few things to me - and did so pretty
directly.
When the
hurricane struck last year, my wife went out and brought a generator. It served us well for the four days we went
without power that summer, and we were determined to be ready with it during
the blizzard. We filled it with gas and
made sure we had extra containers in case of any lengthy outage.
Of course,
we then forgot to move it from under our deck to a place where it could be
operational before the snow came. We
were very fortunate to not lose power during this storm, because moving a heavy
generator after two feet of snow has fallen is not as easy as you might think. It was not one of our finest moments in
planning.
While we
did not lose power, we did lose internet and cable. This was a catastrophe for me, as it
prevented me from doing two of my favorite things: Browsing the net and watching
television.
I read most
newspapers online, along with many different webpages. It helps me stay up with current events, as
well as providing me with information for my twice-weekly conversations with
you good readers. My computer was still
working, but I could not use it as my portal beyond the snow and ice.
Fortunately
my iPhone was still operational, and through my wife’s phone we were able to
set up an internet “hotspot” which gave us access. So I was able to get my column to the
newspaper office despite not having my usual internet connection – which may
have pleased some of you and disappointed others.
As far as
keeping ourselves entertained, we did have some shows taped on our DVR. However, we went through those quickly the
very first night. Then we turned to our
seldom-used collection of DVDs in an effort to pass the time, but discovered
our DVD player was not working properly and kept freezing up every ten
minutes. Frustration levels were high in
the Gouveia household.
This left
us few options, and in fact forced us into the unthinkable: We had to actually talk to each other at
length with very little going on in the background. We were almost forced to look at each other
while we spoke, and provide our undivided attention. While my wife claims this was not a new
experience for her, I have to admit that for me it was venturing into waters
uncharted for quite some time.
I will cop
to doing a bit of reckless law-breaking over that weekend. Against the expressed directive of our
honorable governor, my Beloved and I ventured out for a ride on Saturday
morning to see what it looked like around town.
We were in awe at what Mother Nature had done to our small community,
and it was an adventure getting back up our 300-foot driveway upon our
return. It’s a good thing we have a
reliable plow person who eventually showed up and cleared the way.
Did I learn
anything from this experience? You’re
darned right I did. As soon as the
driving ban was lifted, I went out and bought a new DVD player. After all, I can’t be letting this happen
again anytime soon.
Bill Gouveia is a local columnist and
can be emailed at aninsidelook@aol.com and followed on Twitter at
@Billinsidelook.
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