Of the few things that annoy me about Atlanta...
OK, strike that.
Of the many things that annoy me about Atlanta, the absolute panic that engulfs the city at the sight of a single snowflake outranks them all.
It's a running joke here that if someone drops a Snocone on the street, the grocery stores will be empty of bread and milk in 15 minutes. There's a weird social contract down here that says snow equals disaster, so I'd better stock up!
In tonight's case, the snow disaster is expected to accumulate to - dare I say it without causing riots in the streets? - 1 to 2 inches.
Not only is this ridiculous in the mind of someone who grew up in the blizzard alley of western Kansas and has lived two decades in Denver..it's doubly so when just to the north of us, Washington DC and environs are digging out from up to three feet of real, live, actual snow.
Atlantans seem to know about their neurosis over a bit of snow. They chuckle about it and joke in conversations...as they stampede to the grocery store to strip the shelves bare and then creep home at 10 miles an hour to hole up "until the storm passes."
Myself, I went out to a restaurant to grab dinner this evening, braving the mild slush and 36 degree temperatures. (Um, yes, that's above freezing.) I occupied one table; a family of seven occupied two others pushed together; and the entire rest of the establishment was empty.
I do hope my fellow citizens somehow push through this trauma and survive.
Meanwhile, I'm happily cocooning myself tonight - ready for the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics. Very much thematically congruent this Atlanta evening.
And no, I did not stop by the grocery store on my way home.
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