We are not amused

Two days after two feet of snow got dumped on our fair city, I can safely say that our city
a) is not so fair anymore and
b) has no idea how to get itself back together.

Apparently, richer suburbs (that pay 1% city tax) have gotten themselves a make over in the 48 hours that have elapsed since The Great Dump, whereas the neighborhoods in the city itself (that pay 3% city tax, ahem!) are reeling under piles and piles of dirty show, ice and slush.

Consider, if you will, the path from my apartment (well within city limits, 3% tax) to the bus stop. On Saturday evening and on Sunday, it was exciting to see that unending, undulating mound of pristine, glistening snow. My mom and I exclaimed, Antarctica is probably just like this! Since nobody bothered to shovel that snow away, a raggedy path has emerged from people flattening it out with their boots as they walked their dogs. So, not only has this path emerged, it has also been liberally decorated with the pee and poop of the afore-mentioned dogs.... this path is an uneven white-brown, with a border of gold and dark brown (are these dogs slightly dehydrated? Why is their pee so strikingly golden in color?)

Because of its origins, the path isn't straight: it veers gaily and drunkenly... wherever the dog led the master. When you are walking gingerly along it, you see a bend in the curve and adjust accordingly. However, these bends are also the spots where the canines decided to lift their legs. So you turn your body, try not to slip on the ice and at the same time, veer away from that disgusting yellow trickle on the side wall of snow. It is exhausting work.

Anyway, after 2 hours of availing myself of every mode of transportation available on the roads today (including, I might add, my butt, as I slid down a particularly icy downhill stretch), I reached lab, only to see that I was the only person in the whole building. Now I have sit here for another few hours, just to compensate for the time it took me to get here.

Humph.

In the meantime, Oakland, that haven of hospitals and schools, is in no better shape. How are people supposed to come to the Emergency rooms of Presby, Montefiore, Magee or Kauffman? What if my due date was this month, rather than 7 weeks from now? Where would my 3% have taken me, My Fair City? Probably straight into one of those snow banks with dog pee on them, that's where.