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The awful ride on Route 66
Tonight while driving home from work I realized two things: I definitely need new tires on my car, and the state is doing an awful job plowing Route 66.
Perhaps if this week’s snowstorm had been played up as much as last week’s I would have been prepared. And perhaps the state would have been prepared too.
I remember hearing on the police scanner in the early evening hours that “westbound 66 is absolutely awful.” I figured that by 7:15, it would be all cleared up. After all, Route 66 is a major road. The worst part would surely just be getting through the lights from Main Street and up to Route 3, I told myself.
But I knew already as I pulled out of the McDonald’s parking lot that I wouldn’t have enough speed to make it all the way up the hills of Middlefield. I was lucky I had stopped for gas a few minutes earlier, because I ran out of speed right before Victory Christian Church and had to roll back down until I could turn around and head back downhill.
I waited patiently in the Agway parking lot in Middlefield, thinking a plow truck must surely come any moment. I’m sure I’ve heard an official at some point say that the state plows each of its roads at least once an hour, and if it’s bad it’s just because the plow trucks can’t keep up with the snow.
Well, I waited. And waited. And waited. It even stopped snowing while I waited, but no trucks came.
I read Merrick Alpert’s biography, then his campaign goals. Twice. I even started jotting down questions for the meeting I have with him tomorrow, but I gave up because it really wasn’t something I wanted to be doing in an abandoned parking lot. I just wanted to go home.
Hope flooded through me as I saw two orange trucks come down Route 66 and head toward Middletown. Surely, it wouldn’t be too long now until they turned around and came back up the hill. After all, plowing the hills should be a priority, right? Everyone knows how dangerous those are when they are slick and wet.
9 p.m. came and went, and there wasn’t another plow truck in sight. Finally, I started moving back and forth in the parking lot just to make sure I wouldn’t get stuck. There were probably about 5 inches on the ground where I sat, idling.
Just as I was about to give up and head back to the office – I had been avoiding this because it felt like giving up, plus, I would have never known when the coast was clear if I turned around now – I saw the blinking lights easer their way up the hill from Middletown.
I had waited over 90 minutes at this point. “The roads better be good now,” I thought as I followed the trucks, trying to gain enough speed to make it through the traffic light before it turned.
Once I got past Guida’s, I knew I’d be OK. However, the roads didn’t improve much until I got to I-84.
My ride home normally takes me 35 minutes in good conditions. Tonight, it took 3 hours. A co-worker who left around 4:30 to beat the rush-hour traffic said it took him an hour just to get from Middletown to the Meriden mall.
It snows every year – several times. Why is it always such a big surprise? And why can’t a New England state do a better job to clear the roads?
Perhaps if this week’s snowstorm had been played up as much as last week’s I would have been prepared. And perhaps the state would have been prepared too.
I remember hearing on the police scanner in the early evening hours that “westbound 66 is absolutely awful.” I figured that by 7:15, it would be all cleared up. After all, Route 66 is a major road. The worst part would surely just be getting through the lights from Main Street and up to Route 3, I told myself.
But I knew already as I pulled out of the McDonald’s parking lot that I wouldn’t have enough speed to make it all the way up the hills of Middlefield. I was lucky I had stopped for gas a few minutes earlier, because I ran out of speed right before Victory Christian Church and had to roll back down until I could turn around and head back downhill.
I waited patiently in the Agway parking lot in Middlefield, thinking a plow truck must surely come any moment. I’m sure I’ve heard an official at some point say that the state plows each of its roads at least once an hour, and if it’s bad it’s just because the plow trucks can’t keep up with the snow.
Well, I waited. And waited. And waited. It even stopped snowing while I waited, but no trucks came.
I read Merrick Alpert’s biography, then his campaign goals. Twice. I even started jotting down questions for the meeting I have with him tomorrow, but I gave up because it really wasn’t something I wanted to be doing in an abandoned parking lot. I just wanted to go home.
Hope flooded through me as I saw two orange trucks come down Route 66 and head toward Middletown. Surely, it wouldn’t be too long now until they turned around and came back up the hill. After all, plowing the hills should be a priority, right? Everyone knows how dangerous those are when they are slick and wet.
9 p.m. came and went, and there wasn’t another plow truck in sight. Finally, I started moving back and forth in the parking lot just to make sure I wouldn’t get stuck. There were probably about 5 inches on the ground where I sat, idling.
Just as I was about to give up and head back to the office – I had been avoiding this because it felt like giving up, plus, I would have never known when the coast was clear if I turned around now – I saw the blinking lights easer their way up the hill from Middletown.
I had waited over 90 minutes at this point. “The roads better be good now,” I thought as I followed the trucks, trying to gain enough speed to make it through the traffic light before it turned.
Once I got past Guida’s, I knew I’d be OK. However, the roads didn’t improve much until I got to I-84.
My ride home normally takes me 35 minutes in good conditions. Tonight, it took 3 hours. A co-worker who left around 4:30 to beat the rush-hour traffic said it took him an hour just to get from Middletown to the Meriden mall.
It snows every year – several times. Why is it always such a big surprise? And why can’t a New England state do a better job to clear the roads?
posted by The Middletown Press at
10:53 PM
6 Comments:
I-91 was even worse. Check out my story: http://hallsmark.wordpress.com/2010/02/16/not-a-good-day/
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO EDITORS WHO CAN WRITE?
In that you're an editor of a newspaper, it might behoove you to get yourself a copy of Strunk & White, an AP Stylebook and perhaps the New York Times Manual of Style & Usage.
It is important to understand the nuances of the English language in order to write it properly. Reading will help.
A FEW TIPS
1. website, not Web site
2. Quote are only for the quoted, not for emphasis. For emphasis, use single quote marks, italics or bold font. (e.g., “real life” in your “What you learn in the field” blog.
3. Never use the word 'very'. Ever.
4. Write only the relevant. If you can't do that--make it interesting.
5. Be certain you are making sense. This sentence taken from your blog entitled, “More good news from our CEO”, does not: If anyone can help small, local newspapers transform into a future world - it will be him.
This is not proper usage of the English language. “Transform into a future world”? What does this mean?
In this same blog you mention that you can do “new, cool things” in today’s quickly changing newspaper business—yet you do not mention what these things are. Remember from Writing 101: make a statement, THEN back it up.
6. In your blog entitled: The awful ride on route 66—you fail to write well; foregoing myriad editorial and grammatical rules.
From the headline—which is incorrect, as it is a ‘drive’, not a ride—to the awkward sentence structure throughout—such as,
a. “…but I knew already…”
b. “I ran out of speed”
c. “surely’” several times
d. This run-on,
“Just as I was about to give up and head back to the office – I had been avoiding this because it felt like giving up, plus, I would have never known when the coast was clear if I turned around now – I saw the blinking lights easer their way up the hill from Middletown.”
e. “…a better job to clear the roads?” – it’s a better job ‘clearing’ the roads.
f. Your comment about being lucky for getting gas has no relevance to you’re not being able to make it up a hill in the snow.
anonymous - am I having flashbacks
Hallsmark,
The blog you read and and of which you wrote some comments only illustrates the level of writing seen daily by these so called journalists. I stopped newspaper home delivery because I found it depressing given the lack of proper grammer, poor spelling and misuse of what a word is intended to convey in thought. Apparently there are no editors, meaning one who edits, employed by the news media these days.
a b c d e f g h i j k
Enough already. You appear to be a pompous jerk. This is her blog, not the bleedin' OED. "In that..." You may have read Strunk. You didn't read much White. Please learn the difference between 'proper' and 'ornate'. You also need to learn the rules for punctuation, you can't just make it up as you go along.
Thank you for the writing lesson. As time goes by,I think most of us forget most of the lessons taught in school.I know in my case I brush up by reading. If the writing is incorrect my usage will eventually become incorrect because essentially I am a moron. THIS is why it is very important to use proper grammar and perfect a writing style.I am wondering why one can never use the word 'ever' ever?
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