Nemo vs. The Blizzard of '78

Saturday morning

We're still in lockdown here in Massachusetts after The Blizzard of 2013, a.k.a. Nemo, blew in yesterday morning.

At this point reports give Boston over 21 inches of snow and Worcester 28, a new record. Here in Shrewsbury it's hard to say due to all of the drifting. The latest from Boston's WBZ reports 27 inches.

That's enough.

We were fortunate not to sustain any damage or casualties, nor did we lose power. Thank you, Selco!

So far, Governor Deval Patrick has escaped widespread criticism regarding his ban on driving, which has yet to be lifted. In support, I offer this scenario: One young friend, 30 weeks into carrying twins, had an obstetric-related emergency Friday night. Another young friend, who had just returned to town from out of state, was hosting a reunion. The way I see it, the first case was able to get emergency medical treatment because the second event (and others like it) was canceled. In my book, that's the way things should go down.

The latest reports say the driving ban will be lifted at 4 p.m., 24 hours after it was enacted.

Gov. Patrick, like us, was a student in Cambridge when the Blizzard of '78 hit. He remembers classmates cross-country skiing down Mass. Ave. He also remembers the hundreds of vehicles trapped on Route 128, which took a week to dig out, and the scores of people who lost their lives during that epic storm.


I remember digging into the sofa cushions during the BO78 searching for change to go buy milk. We lived in a Somerville triple-decker across the street from a mom-and-pop grocery store and were down to our last quarter and pint of milk before the streets and T were finally reopened.

Mom-and-Pop grocery store on Highland Ave., Somerville, Mass., ground-level brown triple-decker. From Feb. 1978.

I remember hanging out with our ground-floor neighbor, who pointed outside to a six-foot snow pile and said, 'My rent check is under there.' (The mailbox.)

We lived on the top floor of the brown house on the left. That's me having just dug out the mailbox.

It didn't take long for the local dogs to mark their territory -- but I am top dog!

There's a '68 Chevy Nova in there somewhere.

Back to the present. The sun is finally winning its battle against the clouds. Everyone in the hood who has a snow thrower is revving it up, or else thinking about it. I will close with some pics, which I need to go snap.


Thirty seconds later, back from a photo foray:

Suffice to say I'm glad I was shovel ready before opening the back door. I felt like a human groundhog, bundled to the teeth and venturing out into the garage only to retreat in the face of blowing snow.  Also, the tears from my eyes and goop from my nose kept dripping on the camera lens.

Twenty-seven more inches of winter!

By the way, Mom: I mailed you a card Friday morning.











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