I was tucked safely beneath three layers of goose down when the alarm went off and the radio informed me that yes, Virginia, there is a transit strike. And that it was twenty-two degrees.
Coaxing Sir Hal under the covers, I slapped the snooze button and hunkered back down. Oh, man. Twenty-two degrees? Twenty-two is pretty cold when you’re waiting for the bus. But when you’re walking to work? Brrrrrrr! I grumbled and groused a bit and then did what I often do in times of hardship and inconvenience. I asked myself, ‘What would Laura Ingalls do?”
She’d make Almanzo hitch up the team and take her to the schoolhouse, that’s what she’d do. But pre-Manny days, she’d layer up, grab a lunch pail and forge ahead, like a good little pioneer girl.
First on the list of things to do: a warm, healthy breakfast. Since this house doesn’t do porridge, I made an egg white omelet and tea. I packed my lunch pail (Gristede’s bag) and then I raided the closets and drawers for layerable clothing. Tights, knee high socks, jeans, thermal undershirt, sweater. And finally, as practical as it is absolutely adorable – the Half Pint ‘do. I plaited my long hair into two braids and pulled on a knitted cap, marveling at how snugly and neatly it fit. Bundling up in my coat, gloves and scarf, I grabbed my lunch and headed out for a trek across the big woods. Er, the big city.
And by block thirty, I was sweating my ta-tas off.
Ahem. So perhaps it was a bit of overkill, all those layers. But the principle stands. When in the face of adversity, ask yourself, ‘What Would Laura Ingalls Do?’ and you’ll be a-okay. And if your childhood education was lacking in the Little House books, you can find the television version of her prairie wisdom on DVD*, courtesy of PBS.
That shit’s better than the Boy Scout handbook.
* Which I have hastened to add to my Amazon wish list. How have I been living without it?
Oh, I’m totally with you. We recently went through hurricanes Katrina and Wilma (lost power for 5 days with the former and 15 with the latter,) and all I thought of was; “WWLD?” I even pulled out my books and read them (by candlelight) to my kids, telling them that Laura grew up in a time when they didn’t even *have* electricity.
Wouldn’t life be easier if we spent our nights with kerosene lamps – made pretty by bits of red flannel and salt?
Twenty two degrees is nothing! I waited for thirty minutes for a bus that never showed in -8 weather and that’s warm. Come to Minnesota if you want to experience a real winter.
She certainly wouldn’t be sitting on a chartered bus to brooklyn that took 2 hours to get out of the city…aargh!!
damn, while i didn’t feel a bit sorry for the people that had to walk to work today (i walked uphill both ways in the snow blahblahblah – but I DID! LOL) in a rare moment of watching the news from california i wondered “would ‘thisfish’ be one of the people interviewed on her walking commute?” and so i came here to check it out.
and so i’m here to tell you, there’s a reason for layers! lmao. because then you can take them off slowly as you heat or cool.
just sayin’
ya know, having walked to school both ways uphill in the snow…
ps-if you can’t get to work tomorrow please blog more =)
I’m from South Florida (therefore no knowledge of how to dress for winter)and for my first Thanksgiving in New York, I (very foolishly) took the advice of two uncles when it came to wardrobe. I believe I layered in tights, knee high socks, leggings, AND jeans for the Macy’s Parade. I empathize with your comment about preparedness overkill
I agree with Marz – 22 degrees sounds like a balmy day in MN!
But by god, I can’t wait until it’s so long to the cold days! Hellooo, California colleges!
All that walking and working up a sweat in those layers could translate into losing any extra pounds from Christmas cookies/fudge/candy. That’s the upside I guess.
u wouldn’t believe but I have been waiting to read ur post to see what’s going on with the strike and cold weather and what ur reaction would be.
As a native Texan, well, that sounds practically unbearable! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that it either warms up or the strike is over soon.
Personally I’m a What Would Buffy Do kind of girl. I’m not sure how staking vampires in a back alley would have helped in your situation but I’m pretty sure a well-timed wisecrack would have come in handy. And Buffy always has those.
I am all about Little House. I own the first season on DVD.
“Pa? I can’t see you Pa!”
I was trying to guess what your title stood for and thought it was “What Would Long Island Do?”
ahhh! i splurged and got the eight seasons on dvd about a month ago…and i.love.them. love ‘em. and i love that you’re referencing her!!!
I remember something about Ma giving Laura and Mary hot potatoes to put next to their bodies to keep them warm on the walk to school. Then they got to eat the potatoes for lunch. Or maybe that was Caddie Woodlawn.
Anywho, 22 degrees isn’t too bad if you’re moving at a good clip. Two or three layers is probably enough to keep you warm.
The layers! I get all heated up when walking, only to be in overdrive when I get into the metro…then cooling off. Then only to get heated up when walking the 8 more blocks to work.
Oh, to be a temperature fluctuating female. You have my sympathies!
by ‘island standards’, 40 degrees is frigid. I was an avid LHotP reader, and read about how the girls carried baked potatoes in their coat pockets to keep their digits toasty, and that’s what I demanded of my mom prior to a winter’s walk to my elementary school (2 miles UPHILL BOTH WAYS!!)
Since then, I’ve lived in Germany and the Pacific Northwest, and have a much more realistic idea of what winter is about.
BRRRRR.
Scrap the mani/pedi fund. Take a taxi!!
Seriously, ALL of y’all need to come up to Canada to truly understand winter and how cold it can actually get. Plus I was born and raised in Singapore, a tropical island in Asia. So being in Canada in winter sucks BIG TIME.
Try shoveling your driveway at 6:30 am in 5 degree weather in the snowbelt of Cleveland.
I do feel bad for the people that live far from their jobs in NY though, where walking all the way is not possible.
Jeez, guys. I’m sure it’s colder in LOTS of places, but all things being relative, *I* am still cold when it’s 22 degrees.
I get a personal driver for the strike. Door to door service. Get to work on 30 minutes from out in Coney Island, get to work at 7AM, have one hour for breakfast). Getting out of work at 3PM todays – long drive and all.
(to clarify, I carpool with coworkers).
Your writing reveals so many layers and sides of your personality. Thanks for showing us spunky today.
Glad to see you are surviving the strike! There IS something wonderful about being self-employed. I was able to get people to come to me yesterday! But I’m going out for my long, NYC walk today! Stay warm, and have a wonderful, happy holiday!
I wish I’d had your layers yesterday while I was standing on line for the LIRR. Maybe I should have followed suit and walked my cold butt over the 59th Street Bridge to stay warm.
Stay warm, Fish!
Well done!
when i was a little girl, my dad spent several winters reading the entire L.I.W. series to my sisters and i. that precious memory will never be forgotten. now, being that i live in the midwest she struggled in, i find myself looking for heroes from other and more exotic places. your entry reminded me that sometimes, the homegrown, really is the sweetest. thanks again fish!
I’ve really got to get my continents straight, as well as my units of measurement. When I first read your post, I was thinking “22 degrees?” Is it really that warm in New York this time of year? I was jealous for the tiniest second. Then I realized you meant 22 degrees farenheit, not centigrade. I’m sure you’ll be happy to know NYC is currently colder than Stockholm, Sweden.
Kinda glad today’s post wasn’t entitled “Cold Fish”. It could have severely affected my mental image of you.
Another Canadian. Yup it gets colder here (last winter I got a bit of frostbite on my cheeks on my morning commute)+ but it’s all about what you’re used to.
Good on yah Fish.
Remember too that every time you walk to work you’re helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Getting to eat more cake *and* saving the world? I’d call that a good day!
+Uphill both ways, literaly. I live half way up one side of a valley.
Where I live, we hit 30 with a little moisture and the Army base and local businesses close down due to concerns over ice. Of course it gets up to 110 in the summer (not a dry heat either) so it is all relative. Fish, I love reading about exotic NYC, especially from Central Texas. Thanks for sharing with us.
I also walked to work, wearing long underwear, pants, socks, sneakers, a sweater, a down coat, a scarf, a thermal-check double-thick hat, and the warmest gloves ever (thinsulate + thermal-check fleece). I was so hot after one mile that I took off the hat, the scarf, and the gloves, and I unzipped the coat. And that’s how I walked the rest of the way. This morning, I never even put the hat on, and I still had to unzip my down coat. I empathize.
My response to all these “Suck it up, it’s so much colder here!” posts: Would you prefer -8 degrees and a 20 second walk to your car or 22 degrees and a two hour (at least) walking commute to and from work?
And as for WWLID – last winter, while being unemployed, I somehow ended up watching LH everyday and EVERY DAY that damn show made me cry. Like “Extreme Makeover-Home Edition” weepy. Ridiculous.
That’s the hidden benefit of living in a city with such a craptastic public transportation system: Most of us wouldn’t even notice if there was a transit strike in Denver.
Thank you MONKEY!
these MN/CAN people forget that no one is complaining that its 22 degrees, per se, rather that we have to WALK MILES & MILES in 22 degree weather!!!
and before anyone says it – you arent even allowed to drive a car into manhattan unless you have 4 people in it… so even if many people HAD cars, they wouldnt be allowed to drive them in – not to mention that parking would run $40/day…
all that said, every 10 blocks or so, i just repeat “50 more calories burned! yeah!” to keep myself going… its the little things
When I was a boy, I walked ten miles to and from school. UPHILL. In the SNOW.
Uphill, both ways, mind you!
Hmmm everyones talking about the weather and strike and all I can think about is how cute you must have looked in the braids and stocking cap
Damn it Gregg, you stole my comment!
Everyone should start biking – Manhattan is flat enough! :p
good luck fighting the cold! while the others moan about how cold it is wherever they are, i’m stamping my feet and complaining about the lack of snow and low temperatures. the minimum temperature during winter is 22 deg CENTIGRADE. bah humbug!
pros and cons of indianapolis:
Against: still cold, no Fish
For: Public transportation? HA!,
total walking distance from my house to my car and my car to the door at work: ten feet.
I hope you have a wonderful holiday. I’ve yet to begin my christmas shopping, so wish me luck.
Here’s to the pioneer spirit. Thank goodness the strike is called off and you can unwind a bit, layer-by-layer. Enjoy the holidays.
And here’s to happy women everywhere! Let’s all raise a glass together!
Teri
girrrl, i feel yr pain. it’s one thing to be out walking the dog for 2 hours when it’s 22 degrees… but HAVING to shlep to work when it’s 22 degress is another story! and believe me when i say i understand cold— I’M FROM BUFFALO!
Hmmm…never thought about asking “What would Laura do.” Being the HUGE fan I am (I think I read at least a little before falling asleep 5 nights a week) I find it comforting to read the “summer months stories”–i.e during the winter and vice vesa. Somehow the Long Winter provides relief during the ubearably humid Nebraska summer. Man–I am a geek.
Since I never read the books, but watch the TV show every day (twice), I’d probably ask what Ma would do!
OMG.
I so want a WWLID t-shirt!
Oooh, such good advice. I am going to start asking myself this more often!
Fish — here’s to hoping your Festivus/Christmas is fabuloso!
Holy cow! ALMONZO! I totally haven’t thought about that show in ages. I used to watch it EVERY day after school at 5:00 on channel 11. Thanks for the laugh and for saying ta-tas!
i love this post. brilliant
Quit bitching! A walk on a cold day should be enjoyed. Your obviously a completely self absorbed bitch. No wonder you’re alone.
I have sex with animals. In my mother’s basement. Where I play D&D.