I hate living in the country, and I especially hate living in the country in the winter when our hill is an ice slick and my husband is recuperating from knee surgery and I'm the chauffeur. I put the pick-up truck in 4 Wheel Low, but we still slide down the slippery slope, visions of an even more fucked-up knee or worse snowing my vision as we go. I hate winter and I hate the country. 40 minutes from Clayton is too far away. I want to live near traffic and salt trucks and pollution and noise. How the fuck did I end up out here? The only thing that chills me out in this miserable cold is looking at old fabric and guzzling hot brandy with lemon. I can't even knit, I'm so jangled. Please God our power doesn't go out as it has every winter since we moved here four years ago. I will be good. Two years ago or whenever that horrendous ice storm was, our power was out forever, and we ended up having to stay a whole week at Flea Bag Motel in Cow Town, so my other half could be near the hospital where he practices. The motel was full of cigarette smoke, pizza crusts, Ameren workers, cracked faux marble sinks, threadbare towels, lumpy mattresses, questionable sheets, 70s furniture, and yucky bedspreads. Then Flea Bag's power went out, too, even though it was full of the sleeping linemen who had just been up 48 hours straight trying to fix it all. The only electricity on in town that night was at a gun, bait, and booze shop. There I bought an LED lantern, beef jerky, and thought about throwing in a gun and some bullets, to put myself out of my misery, but snagged a half pint of Jim Beam instead. That winter really sucked, but at least my husband could walk. If anything happens this year, I guess I'll just drag him into Flea Bag across the ice pond parking lot on a blanket as he clutches our chihuahua. I hate winter.
3 comments:
Poor you, I grew up in Crawford County MO. We were beyond the snowplow line and we lost electricity all the time. Your post brought back several very bad winter memories. YIKES! I am so glad I don't still live there and I will never go back.
Yes, I look back fondly at my various ghetto apartments & crack head neighbors! Nothing beats the city!!!
It's funny. I had a friend who really wanted to live in the country, and all I could think was, "You could die there in the winter and nobody would know about it until spring." I love the city.
Hang in there :) Focus on the snow powdering the bare trees, the bright stars in a sky without light pollution, the cool wildlife crossing your yard, and staying snug inside under a afghan with little Bridget. At least it'll be in the 40s the rest of the week.
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