February 03, 2005
The ice
Last winter we heard there was an incredible snow storm in Charlotte that shut the city down for three days. We knew this because my mom was never home, things at work were insane because the centre in Charlotte was closed. Later they saw some pictures of this alleged snow storm, and they were amused.
Since my mom has moved to Charlotte she's found out that for the entire city, which is slightly larger than half a million people big, they have three snowplows. Yes, that's right. Three. That's just unbearable to think about here, but it doesn't snow much down there, so they probably feel that having three is a waste of time and money.
I went for a visit there this past weekend. I left on Thursday to go, spent Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday there, and returned home on Tuesday. It was cold the entire time I was there, and in fact on Saturday there was freezing rain, sleet and snow. This little bit of weather caused almost panic.
Seeing as how we're used to weather like that, we hopped in the car and drove to the mall anyway, it wasn't going to stop us! Until we got to the mall... Just about half the mall was closed. Both branches of The Gap were closed. Victoria's Secret had lights on inside, but the doors were firmly closed. The Limited was firmly shut up as well. Etc... etc.. I think my greatest disappointments were that Bath & Body Works wasn't open, nor was this store Kirkland's that I'd been hearing much about.
We shopped in the stores that were open. And man was the customer service fantastic! I can only assume that they hadn't actually seen any customers that day at all, so when we came in they fell all over us. As we walked into The Yankee Candle Company the lady said "Ya'll must be transplants!" In one of the department stores (I forget which...there are 5 in that mall), a lady was complaining to her co-worker in a panic filled tone that she didn't even have any bread in her house!!! All the time I laughed quietly, and not so quietly to myself.
But the fact is, they're not used to it, so it's a big deal to them.
This was taken from my mom's patio, the trees in the background are covered in ice, as is the grass. This was taken Sunday morning, by late afternoon it had all melted.