It was a surreal adventure driving from rainy Connecticut today into the slippery and snowy mire of the Bronx and Manhattan. However, this adventure did beget a surprising story of humanity from my fellow New Yorkers so I have to share it.Driving across the MacCoombs Damn Bridge from the Bronx into Manhattan, cars were fishtailing all over the road and traffic was backing up. As traffic moved forward, I realized that my front wheels had locked up and despite accelerating, I was stuck. The wheels were spinning but not moving. I got out of the car to investigate (while trying to avoid the traffic driving around me on the narrow lanes). A woman in a car in a northbound lane (also stuck in traffic) rolled down her window and hollered at me, “Are you OK?” I explained my dilemma. “Put it in four wheel drive,” she offered. I explained that I didn’t have 4 wheel drive. She shrugged sympathetically. At the same time, another man rolled down his window and offered advice. And then another. Nothing worked.
Suddenly a man in a truck on the northbound lane jumped out of his car and ran over to me. He told me that I should let some of the air out of my front tires and with a gauge in hand, he did just that for me. I put the car in low gear and tried to move forward. I got a little traction but could still not move. At the same time, another man with a truck in the northbound lane jumped out of his truck, pulled a bag of salt from his trunk and set to salting the area around my front tires. “Try it now,” he said. I did and I was suddenly moving forward. I shook his hand and thanked both men profusely. The man who had salted the front of my tires then said, “Honey, you keep driving to get where you need to go and if you can, try not to stop.”
I did make it (slowly) to the safety of my parking garage and I have several good Samaritans to thank for that. So the next time you generalize about the rude nature of New Yorkers, think again.
Here was my world when I got home tonight.
This is the road. It is treacherous.
Downned trees. Due to the heavy wet nature of the snow, there were more than a few.
1 comment:
Hunker down! I hear you're about to get clobbered again! I keep watching our little patch on the weather and it is swirling all around us, but looks like we'll avoid it this time around.
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