Friday, January 6, the snow began.  Saturday, January 7, a beautiful accumulation of nearly 8" frosted Richmond Hill.  And the city shut down.

Not entirely so.  A wedding took place on Saturday, a beautiful affair.  On Sunday sledding down the steep slopes behind Richmond Hill that lead down to Shockoe bottom took place - on kitchen trays and cardboard.  Big kids who've been around for many decades alongside little ones, all looking to make the fastest, longest, least injurious route down that amazing hill, including the cobble-stoned street adjacent to Richmond Hill that was closed to traffic due to snow.

I scrambled to remove snow on the sidewalks, realizing that we'd waited too long in the bitter cold and that it had already begun to thicken and ice.  I also realized that we have two city blocks of sidewalks that people use frequently and that we'd be at risk for fines for not removing the snow within a specified amount of time.  Then in walking through the neighborhood I realized 1) if there is an ordinance to remove sidewalk snow, clearly no one is adhering to it and 2) possibly, many do not have snow shovels.

Then on Monday, I noticed that the numbered streets of the city had not been plowed.  Later that day, I saw an old plow truck, 1970s vintage maybe, barely more than a pick-up truck, with a tiny sized plow affixed to the front, rolling down the center of Grace.  Four days following Saturday's snow, I have yet to see the numbered streets plowed and I've been told that to the north of me, where the public housing lies, even less plowing has occurred.  Today the temperature reaches sixty degrees, but schools remain closed.

Corner of Marshall & 27th Street, Mon., Jan 9, 2017 - 3 days after the snow bega (which ended mid-day on Sat, Jan 7)  Marshall appears to be plowed down the center, but not 27th St.

It occurs to me that with climate change, the variability in weather could amount to more frequent, sporadic snow falls in Richmond and that adapting to these changes will require some ingenuity.  Will schools need to start earlier and close later to accommodate the irregularity and verocity of storms in a new climate reality?  Possibly year-round school?  Will people even better ways to work from home when they can't get to the office?  In RVA, in addition to no plows, the public transit is lacking in both coverage and access.

Indeed, it's a different world that I live in from where I came in central Pennsylvania.  I vacillate between marveling and admiring this place and feeling utterly confused and disoriented by it.