We got to Charlottesville around 5:00pm, when the snow was really starting to come down. I knew we were getting short on coffee creamer and Paul wanted bacon, so he dropped me off at the shady Food Lion by our house while he went to go pick up the dogs from the kennel. I walked into the Food Lion and immediately knew it was a mistake. There were people EVERYWHERE!! Everyone was pushing cartfuls of what he or she deemed as "necessities." Now, I can't knock other people's choices since I was there for bacon and coffee creamer (I can't live without coffee creamer though!), but I was amazed at what people thought was worth a dangerous drive through the snow.
I saw one woman with at least 20 boxes of Totino's pizza rolls, another woman with about 4 40's of beer and one box of wine, a guy with a HUGE piece of meat and nothing else, and a woman with 3 jars of oysters. With my creamer and bacon in hand, I quickly headed toward the front of the store to check out. On my way, I narrowly avoided being hit by a shopping cart with an elderly lady at it's helm. The woman behind me wasn't so lucky and nearly fell over when the surprisingly spry octogenarian jacked her in the back with her cart. You would think the old woman would apologize for nearly running down the other customer, but instead she shouted "I know you better watch where you're goin'!! Thinking that this situation was not going to end well, I quickly hurried away, leaving the two woman to battle it out on their own.
I finally made it out of the Food Lion 30 minutes later, after selecting the worst possible check out line to stand in (someone was trying to pay with a food stamp check that apparently was no good). The roads were in really bad shape, but Paul expertly drove us home.
For the last two days, we've watched incredible amounts of snow fall, endured 12 hours without electricity, watched idiotic people unsuccessfully attempt to drive on the snow covered roads, and spent a lot of time shoveling snow of our steps. Here's a handy winter tip: if you don't have a snow shovel, a spatula and a cookie sheet both serve as nice substitutes.
We're hoping that a snow plow will come and clear our parking lot and roads tomorrow, but if not I have enough coffee creamer and bacon to last us at least 3 more days.
