Wearing thin
Resentment rises as residents face another big dig
No one is ever really fooled. No son or daughter of New England ever really believes that on the nape of March winter has actually slaked. But then again, after a week or so of tantalizing sun and hints of warmth, it always seems to come as an insult, the dump of snow like yesterday's that serves as a reminder that there is much yet to endure.
With storm warnings once again on the airwaves and armadas of plows in the streets, it was with a special resentment that people all over the city laced up boots, struggled into jackets, and plodded out into the drifts.
"I'm tired of all this, tired of New England," said Dianne Christmas, standing across the street from her Clifford Street house in Roxbury. She had just spent about five minutes trying to maneuver her car out of her steep driveway and onto the street, so that another resident could clear her driveway with a snow blower. With a look of exasperation on her face, she headed to her mother's house farther down the street, to dig out her sidewalk and driveway.
About a dozen residents were digging out on Clifford Street late yesterday morning. Two men whipped up what looked like a small blizzard as they fervently shoveled. After several minutes they took a break. Catching their breath, the men shook their heads from side to side as they evaluated the remaining job at hand.
At the corner of Warren and Moreland Streets in Roxbury, Yvonne Williams borrowed a neighbor's shovel to uncover her stairs.
"I lost my shovel during the last storm, and I didn't buy another one because I was hoping I wouldn't need to for the rest of this winter. But it's been so bad this year I should have known," she said.
Williams not only lost her shovel during the last storm, but she lost the use of her car as well. "I tried to drive out of the snow without digging, and I blew out my transmission. These storms, they're nothing but headaches," she said.
In Dorchester, Gerri Conward waited for about 30 minutes on Dorchester Avenue to catch a bus to work. Shivering slightly and wiping her runny nose with a napkin, she said, "March is always like this, in like a lion, out like a lamb. I am so tired of the snow I don't know what to do. This is the worst ever winter I've been through. I usually drive to work, but when it gets like this, I catch the bus, because my street always seems to be the last one to get cleared."
Richard Lindsay, the owner of the Dot Tavern at 840 Dorchester Ave., wiped sweat from brow as he cleared the sidewalk. "I'm 74, so I've seen a lot of them. Of course, nothing compares to the Blizzard of '78. If you look at this entire winter, yes, it's been really bad, but what can you do? At my age, I don't have many more of these to dig out from. Soon, it'll probably be covering me."
In the South End, Alison Hearn spent about 20 minutes digging out her car on Worcester Street, where it had been parallel parked overnight. "It's a drag. This whole winter has been terrible and I for one am pretty fed up with these storms," said Hearn, 33, who shifted numerous times from digging snow away from the front of her tires to jumping inside her car and driving it a few inches forward. After managing to drive clear of the snow, she threw her shovel in her back seat and headed off to buy groceries.
Jose Tavares didn't have to work yesterday because of the storm. His boss at Appleton Antique Lighting told him not to worry about coming in for work. But Tavares had plenty of work to do. His brother's car was almost completely covered in snow, and it was Tavares's turn to dig out.
"It's crazy, we're already in March and still getting snow," said Tavares, 20, standing on Aguadilla Street in the South End. "I came here from the Dominican Republic. Am I thinking about going back? Heck yeah."
