We had our first serious snowfall over the weekend (Friday night into Saturday), here in Rose of New England, followed by incessant mewling and puking in online forums about how badly the white stuff was cleared from roadways.
Coincidentally enough, clearing it from the sidewalks, which is the homeowner's responsibility, wasn't even mentioned, and less coincidentally, wasn't accomplished for the most part. We're excellent judges of others' behavior and even better attorneys for our own, I guess.
Because of the various medical maladies I have that have all worsened as I've aged, my lack of physical ability to mow my own lawn in the summer is now bookended by the inability to shovel or clear snow in the winter. We still have a snowthrower, but I can't even walk behind it anymore (it has five forward gears and two reverse, and for all the years we've owned it, I have no idea what most of those are for). We've had it close to a decade, and when I could use it, I'd clear our sidewalk as well as the sidewalks of both of our neighbors, since I had the device out and running.
Our son, who made arrangements for the folks who cut our grass this past summer, found someone to clear the snow away this winter. We're on his list, and he gets to us when he does (perhaps alphabetically by height?), and in the meantime, our next-door neighbors shoveled our front and back steps as well as our sidewalk.
My wife went outside to tell the him next-door neighbor, that we had someone coming and that while his effort was deeply appreciated, there was no need for it. An hour or so later, she looked out in front of our house to see the her next-door neighbor just finishing our sidewalk.
The pair fled Manhattan in the aftermath of 9/11 and settled in Norwich. They keep to themselves, except to help us, and there's no way I will ever be able to thank them enough for their thoughtful kindness.
-bill kenny.
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