| Snow |
January 9, 2020
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| When he opened the door of his apartment, he was a little bit surprised at the scene outside. After retiring, his various part time jobs' working times were irregular. On this day, he got up around nine. It was rather late, even for him. He had a job from 3 pm and he hadn't set the alarm clock. Maybe he drank too much the previous night. He ate a late breakfast. While eating, he watched a DVD that was about domestic and international politics and economy. After eating, he checked his email and then read a newspaper, afterwards he checked on the internet to search for something that he was curious about that he read in the newspaper. Around 1 pm, he was not so hungry and got an idea to leave his apartment early and eat lunch out. When he opened the door, he shouted, "Wow." There was snow stacked all over the ground. It was about 30 cm deep. Although it had stopped snowing, he never realized that it was snowing. His rooms' windows had two layers of curtains, an outer and inner, and he didn't open the outer curtain often. He hurriedly went out and started to shovel the snow. He and three other families used the same  entrance of the building. He and another family lived on the first floor, while the others lived on the second floor. Nobody except for him shoveled. Maybe they were too busy to clear the snow because they were young families that had small kids. He was a senior and had time, plus he wasn't the type of person to complain about it. It was quiet, maybe the snow absorbed the sound. The snow was wet and heavy. A weather reporter said that this year, because of warmer winter temperatures, the sea water would evaporate more than in normal years, and there would be a lot more snow. He learned that warmer temperatures didn't mean less snow. He cleared the snow around the gate, the steps toward the road, around the road a little bit, and the snow that was on and around his car. It took about twenty minutes or so, but he was already exhausted. Then he went to his mother's house. His mother's house was located a few minutes by car from his apartment. His mother was old and lived alone, so he would sometimes go there and do chores that were hard for her, like snow removing. When he got there, he found that his mother already had done a certain amount of shoveling. But the area that she did shovel, there was another layer of snow on that area. Maybe she shoveled while it was snowing. He started to shovel. When his father was alive, he insisted on not making a block on the roof to stop the snow falling to the ground. He believed that it would damage the roof. So each time it snowed, the snow slid down the roof, and he had to remove the snow to keep the path clear for the family. While shoveling, his father hurt his back. After that, he attached a small railing on the edge of the roof. Actually there were a lot of deaths due to snow in this country. Every year, many people would fall down from the rooftops which they were removing snow from the roof. Because the heavy snow might break the house, people would go on the rooftops to remove the snow. That night, he had a dream that he had ordered a robot to remove the snow, but the robot started to complain saying that his back hurt. He laughed, and said that the parts were replaceable. He got up and drew up his curtains, this time both the outer and the inner ones. He was shocked to look at the snow piling up very high, about 2 meters or so. His and the others' cars were hidden. He switched on the TV and the reporter was shouting that it was because of the abnormal weather, and everyone needed to help themselves. Next thing that he realized was that the snow level was over the top of the window! He couldn't see outside. He was going to make a call, but his house phone and smartphone didn't work. Maybe the snow broke the phone lines and systems. He checked the oil gauge of his heater. It was full, and he was thankful for it. It became darker and darker outside. There was only a little light that came through the thick snow. When will it stop? Suddenly, the lights blacked out, and the TV and the heater stopped. Maybe the piled up snow exceeded the height of the utility poles and electricity lines. It was getting darker and colder.... Then he woke up. He opened the curtains, and looked outside. It was a normal view. He checked on the internet and knew that in this country the most snow that was ever recorded was a little more than 2 meters in a day; the maximum in a season was 11 meters! He was embarrassed that he got so upset for only that much of snow. In some areas, people would battle against a lot more snow. However, he really hoped that there wouldn't be any more abnormal weather. |
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*domestic :中の
*absorb :吸収する
*evaporate :揮発する
*railing :柵
*due to :ために
*replaceable :取り換え可能な