As you all on the east side know about our snow last week, I just thought I would do a round up on what all happened as a result of the event. I call it a diminutive snow storm because what we had or experienced was nothing compared to what happened in upstate New York. We hardly got a couple of inches whereas upstate got an average of 11 feet. So you get the idea.
Everyone on the east side faced the snow fall last Tuesday, followed by sleet on Wednesday. As a result all the snow was compacted and what we had to deal with was a sheet of ice. Everywhere we stepped on was as if we were on an ice rink. Some had difficulty in clearing the driveways or parking space, getting the car out and getting out to work, so most of us stayed home Wednesday and Thursday, enjoying until cabin fever got old. Kids stayed home because schools were closed. Every day was a stagger for them to find out that schools were closed for the day and they could do a little something to relish. Of course, many went sledding (that is what most of us do when it snows right?), but we did have accidents that took the life of a couple of sledders when they hit a tree while sledding. This was not like a regular snow where we can sled, build snow forts and have snow ball fights. This is ice we are dealing with. We literally had to dig and break the ice, so we can clear the pathway, driveway, parking lot and such. So no snow balls, no snow forts.
Lot of flights were canceled or delayed last week as a result of the snow. Case in point is the case of JetBlue having to deal with the ramifications. We all know that it is difficult enough to drive on ice, so why would the airlines jeopardize their expensive aircrafts. Many airlines canceled most of their flights but JetBlue wanted to provide better service for their customers and was trying to get the flights out of JFK. They had good intentions but bad business skills I must say. It is true that they had passengers in the flight for more than ten hours, waiting to take off, only to send them back and cancel the flight because of inclement weather. If the flight crew sent the passengers out, while they were figuring out a take-off strategy and if that had worked, they would have to spend the next couple of hours trying to get the passengers to board again. Try doing this for hundreds of customers who would be out in the airport getting coffee, eating something or using restrooms and such. I can understand why the flight crew didn’t send them out.
All the passengers were angry because they were locked up in the aircraft without food and proper sanitary requirements. This week JetBlue is airing their sorry notes in their press release to their customers with refunds and free round trip tickets to anywhere. They could have just canceled their flight and cut their losses to a minimum just like other airlines or provided free food for the passengers while they were locked inside the flight. This would have quieted the angry mob and the airlines would not have to show a sorry face to their customers.
Other problems we have are the roads. This year we had warmer weather in January, followed by cold weather in February with this snow storm and all and now again warmer weather this week. As a result we have potholes everywhere. This is a perfect time to show your driving skills in making that quick swirl to avoid those potholes without losing your speed. This will train the budding NASCAR drivers for this season. Now that the ice is melting this week, we see huge puddles with water. We don’t know the depth of these puddles until you land your car in one of them. If you fell for the advertisements you saw about SUVs and what that vehicle can do in snow or big puddles of water and ended up with one, now is the perfect time to try it out yourself. Just make sure you are a member of AAA, have their number handy with fully-charged cell phone, in case. All these experiences are a result of one mini snow storm. Are you not glad that you are not in the upstate?
No comments:
Post a Comment