Yesterday, as I was framing my gorgeous poster obtained at the Alexander McQueen exhibition in NYC in July, I discovered some photos taken during that blizzard. (As an aside, heavy photo albums are great for flattening out posters prior to framing them.)
Thus I was reminded of my promise to tell the tale of the Blizzard of '96.
We'll start with an excerpt of my journal entry from Sunday 7 January, 1996:
"After dinner, Michele and I went to her friend Regina's house on E66th, between 2nd & 3rd, which was absolutely gorgeous! Three bedrooms, a big lounge, kitchen, dining area and is really, really nice. We just sat around until 2am talking - Regina is really nice and has offered to put me up when I come back. Which I definitely will - we saw jack shit today!
We got up late - around 10.45-ish and went to NYC Bagels to get breakfast (didn't see Cindy Crawford again though!). Afterwards Michele and I dropped our stuff back at her car and went to: (1) The Empire State Building (visibility was zero); (2) Rockefeller Center (skating rink was closed); (3) NBC (Michele's friend Kurt wasn't working and they'd cancelled the tours); (4) FAO Schwartz (we got there at 3.35pm, they were closing at 4pm so they wouldn't let us go upstairs to the 'Big' piano). We were freezing and it was snowing pretty badly by then, so we decided to ring Regina for advice. She said we should try to get out of the city ASAP so we did! Had to dig the car out, and it was a pretty hairy drive, but we made it to Michele's grandma's house [in Weehawken, NJ] and here we are!"
The following two and a half days were spent with Michele's grandmother - stuffing our faces with her yummy spaghetti and meatballs, watching soaps and shovelling snow.
And when I say snow, I mean SNOW.
Want proof?
View of NYC from the street outside Michele's grandma's house in Weehawken. That's Michele's car in the middle.
Me standing next to Michele's car. Yes. NEXT to it. That's how high the snow was. We'd already dug out the snow on the passenger side. (Remember, this is in the USA - the passenger side is the driver's side in Australia).
Post-shovelling. Our hair is frozen. Solid.A day after this photo was taken, we managed to make it back to Philadelphia, where we then had to dig out my car, so that I could travel home to Virginia. That drive, much like the drive from NYC to NJ, was another "hairy drive", mostly due to the fact that the tyres on Michele's car were so worn that we had almost zero grip and were sliding around like a pair of first-timers on skis. It was alternately thrilling and terrifying. Actually, more terrifying than thrilling. I do recall at one point thinking "I can't die here, I haven't even been to the top of Rockefeller Center yet!". Still, at least it would have been an interesting way for a shy young girl from Radelaide to die.
But we didn't die. We weren't even injured. Just cold and tired and a bit sore from shovelling so much snow. My memories of that weekend are mostly (with the faded hindsight that comes with 15 years passing), of it being so much fun, of sharing such a crazy once-in-a-lifetime experience with a good friend. Someone, I am proud to say, who has remained a good friend, no matter how much physical distance is between us.
As Michele would say... "no worries".
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