2.30am - We look out the window to check on the weather. There had been storm warnings in place for the last 24 hours and we wanted to see if it had arrived. It had. When the sun went down yesterday the landscape was brown - grass dead and trees with no leaves etc. Now it is a brilliant white with heavy snow falling. The snow flakes are very large unlike the tiny ones in New York. There is no evidence of roads as they are also covered with a thick blanket of snow. It really is very pretty. Even though it is night time and the snow storm is raging, it is still easy to see for some reason. Its as though the street lights are illuminating the snow clouds which is really weird. God I wish I could sleep.
2.31am - Shit. It has just occurred to us that we cannot go anywhere. We are snowed in.
3.00am - still snowed in. Like I really thought that would change in the last 29 minutes. Heavy snow continues to fall.
4.00am - the Bear and I wonder if the hotel staff are able to get to work today. It is becoming more obvious that not only can nobody leave, but nobody can get in to work either. The news broadcast basically indicates that the city has shutdown. No flights, no buses, no trains except for the underground. Those that have attempted to get onto the roads have become stuck in snow drifts or have slid off the road. Some have even rolled. Its just not worth it. Stay snowed in.
5.00am - the news is just repeating itself. Reporters are around the traps showing what sort of snow has fallen. How the hell did they get out? Are they not snowed in?
6.00am - ok. Panic sets in. If we cannot get out, how are we going to eat?! When we are on holiday, that is one of my big pleasures! Eating take away! The hotel has a small breakfast as a part of the room rate but they don't do lunch and dinner. What if the staff didn't get in? There will be no breakfast! I do a stock take on the "supplies" that we have with us: Half a box of Twinkies, a box of ho-hos (I will explain those later my fellow Australians), a bottle of Moccona coffee (brought from Australia), some sachets of Caramel Latte (also brought from Australia), Brian's vitamins and fish oil tablets (removes them from the inventory), a packet of Dorrito's, and a container of cheese, meat sticks and pretzels as purchased from Walmart the other day. So we wont starve today. There is a small market (and by small market I mean a fridge) in the lobby which contains some frozen food which can be purchased so that is an option too.
7.00am - Breakfast. The staff stayed at the hotel last night. They took the warnings seriously and wanted to make sure their patrons were looked after. Three cheers for them! Breakfast was made up from yesterdays things (bagels and toast), scrambled eggs, chipped potatoes (some sorts of cubes that look like sweet potato) and sausage patties. Blerk.....but that's ok. I will eat to keep up my strength because I just might need it being snowed in! I also use a little bit of creativity. Along with the condiments, there is salsa and shredded orange cheese. I grab a few coffee cups and fill them with cheese and salsa. We have a packet of Dorrito Corn Chips back in the room, and a microwave. This will allow us to have Nachos! I pat myself on the back for being so ingenious. We also grab a pizza pocket from "the market" in the hotel lobby.
8.00am - Still snowed in (of course). Getting bored.
9.00am - Still snowed in. Bored as bat shit. Life outside has come to a standstill. Snow continues to fall. The news is carrying on as though it is the end of the earth and quite frankly I am starting to agree with them.
10.00am - Still snowed in. Who in this country actually names their food? I am looking at the boxes of Twinkies and Ho-Hos. For those that may not know, Twinkies are a small, cylindrical sponge cake filled with mock cream. They are no bigger than your hand. Ho-Hos are like a tiny chocolate scroll that has been dipped in chocolate. Now this might be just my opinion....but wouldn't Twinkie be a better name for your little toe? Or, an alternate word when going for a "wee"? It just doesn't strike me as something you might eat. Maybe naming them.....Torpedos.....or...Sponge Logs....or something like that might have been more appropriate. As for Ho-Hos....well lets leave that topic well alone. At the store they sold something similar which are called Ding-Dongs. "Yes please....I will have a box of Ding-Dongs". How stupid does that sound???
10.30am - Repacks suitcases. Still snowed in.
11.00am - "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall. Ninety-nine bottles of beer. If one of those bottles should happen to fall. Ninety-eight bottles of beer...on....the....wall"
12.00pm - So what is the go with the toilets over here? I know that I have had my love-hate relationship with them but something has troubled me since our very first trip. Why on earth are the toilet bowls half full of water? I can make my own assumptions here, however I feel the benefits that I can come up with are far out-weighed by the problems it would cause men when their junk falls in the water. I mean it just has to happen surely? I know if I go a little bit wild when drying myself that I can accidently hit the water with my hand (and you cannot damned stand up to do it otherwise the stupid automatic flushing happens. You then have to sit on the seat again to put the paper in the bowl and re-flush) so I hate to think how poor blokes fair when they go in for Number Two-s! I seriously need to Google this.
12.30pm - Still snowed in. Sick of these four walls. Cant get beyond the front door of the hotel. Snow has now turned to sleet. This will compact the snow but will make everything icy and dangerous. Time for the Pizza Pockets that we purchased from the fridge in the lobby! Following the directions on the little packet I cooked them in the microwave in our room. I am thinking I would have done much better to make the nachos that I had planned because the pizza pockets had small explosions. Orange cheese ran everywhere. And what is the go with the word "crispy" on the packet? Nothing crispy about these. More like soggy lettuce. But that's ok...we are dealing with a crisis here. We are snowed in and are in survival mode!
1.00pm - Need to vacate the room for a little while so that the cleaners can have access. There are several people sitting downstairs in the lobby who have also exited their room for a little while to allow it to be cleaned. I am dressed in my tracksuit which is covered in the contents on my pizza pocket. I look wistfully out the window wishing the snow a very quick demise whilst listening to someone on the TV report the news in Spanish.
2.00pm - Does anyone know why mixed lollies are all in different shapes? I mean they all taste the same so why put one in the shape of a snake, another in the shape of a frog etc. Jelly beans are all different flavours yet they are the same shape and it has been amazingly successful for them! And who gets to choose what shapes are made? Who actually stops and says "Hey! Lets make a bag of body parts!"? I think this is an extremely reasonable question!
3.00pm - Back in our room. Snow ploughs try tirelessly to clear the roads and make one hell of a racket. We are watching TV and I am depressed to learn that if I lived in the USA I would qualify for "Final Expense Insurance" aka Funeral Insurance. Fancy trying to hide behind some fancy word indicating that you are older than God? Why not just call it "Horse Head Insurance" or "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts Insurance"? Apparently I am old enough to have "Final Expense Insurance" and I don't need a medical. If we are stuck in this damned room for more than a day I might find cause to need something like this!
4.00pm - Still damn well snowed in. The Bear and I had a little bit of a Nana Nap (a necessity for those old enough to qualify for Final Expense Insurance). Fortunately there has been a saving grace. "The First 48" has come on the A & E Channel. I can get lost in the gory details of a murder for a little while. Also, there is nothing falling from the sky currently thank heavens! The Bear cracks open the cheese and pretzels. I soon find out that I don't think they really are what they say they are. The cheese and sausage sticks are like something you might find in a little girls fake supermarket, and the pretzels are like something I would find at the bottom of my handbag......after a year......of it sitting beside the Bears sandshoes.
5.00pm - The snow STILL hasn't friggin well disappeared. I sit here wondering why the hotel chose this particular colour scheme for the carpet. It is a mix of multi coloured lines and is seriously making me angry. I thought that some nice, calming colours would be preferred for tired travellers! No wonder Booth shot Lincoln. He stayed in this damned hotel first and got pissed off by the carpet!
6.00pm - Anyone got a noose? It's f**kin' snowing again.
7.00pm - Oh goody. Our second frozen meal for the day. I am sure we have had tastier belches. And we are still snowed in! I check the internet to see if there is any pizza delivery services advertising that they are open to bribes. No there isn't. That would be freakin' right. The Bear and I decide that no matter what, we are escaping tomorrow. We were meant to be driving to Pittsburgh however there is little likelihood of that given that more snow is predicted which means either we have to stay put here in Washington or risk getting caught at another location. We decide to play it safe and change our next couple of destinations. We shall now start travelling south to where the weather will be above zero.
8.00pm - We check the road reports and weather conditions for tomorrow one last time. The Bear figures if we leave Washington at around 9am then the snow ploughs will have been through and the roads will have been salted. As tomorrow is predicted to be fine the sun will have had a chance to thaw the ice a little bit too. If we can get out before the next snow front moves in we should be right. If it doesn't work out this way, we will be leggin' it out I tell ya!
9.00pm - Night all!
