So, it has been nearly six months since the last Form & Theory post. This resurrection might be the result of mid-winter blues, or RAS. Or, maybe inspiration comes when skating goes. Or, maybe trying to be a big boy and working to pay my rent has gotten in the way. Or, maybe I just don't want to let it dissolve like that. Here's a little more on snow and winter (as if you all haven't had enough of that on social media at this point).
Some good souls shovel their walks right away, or even while the snow is still falling. Then, perhaps right next door, others won’t shovel or throw down salt at all. This inconsistency creates a topographical marvel. Wide open plains sit right next to deep canyons created by people using and reusing the foot holes of those who came before them. And no one dares step outside of the canyon once they’re trudging through the bottom. The thing is as wide as a winter boot, and people actually try to stay inside when passing another pedestrian on the sidewalk. This is most likely because they aren’t wearing the proper footwear. Most folks in the city will either go overboard and bundle up with equipment suited for the Myanmar climb, or go on wearing the same shoes they wear every day; in two feet of snow or when it’s seventy degrees in June. An alternative to the plains/canyons route is to just take the street, which will most likely be plowed given it’s not a one way side street in Humboldt that a snow plow can’t even squeeze through. Brave ones, or brazen fools, will just waltz down the center line on Kimball avenue with cars shlepping on both sides of them. In their defense, the road is sometimes the only clear path to walk upon. The plows come through, separating blankets of snow and compressing them against parked cars on either side, leaving the road navigable, but blocking in every vehicle they pass. We’re talking hundreds of pounds of snow on top of and all around every car parked on the street. Then, on the day after the storm, people waddle outside to spend hours digging in the snow and tossing it over their shoulder. Not only do they have to get it all off of their car, but they have to get at least a foot of clearance around all their tires to actually get out of the spot. After putting in that kind of effort, and breaking a sweat outside when it’s eighteen degrees, no one’s going to just drive away and leave their spot free for the taking. Thus, a phenomenon is born; the parking spot saver. People use anything from DVD towers and 2X4’s, to five gallon buckets, to dining room chairs and side tables. It goes without saying that these random objects sitting out in the street signify one person’s time and effort spent freeing their automobile from its temporary frigid prison, and that no one else can take it. If someone took advantage of this unspoken trust by moving a spot saver and taking that spot, the original owner would eventually come back, see their spot taken, become enraged with anger, and then who knows what...
