For those of you who don't live in the New England area, we've been having a bit of an ice storm today. It wasn't enough to make the roads very bad but walking was another story. Every property owner is resposible for taking care of their own bit of sidewalk. Most people do some work on their sidewalk since you can get a ticket if you don't but not all of them get to it first thing in the morning, say, when I'm walking Little Nephew to school. I have to say, a lot of the sidewalk was in pretty good shape but what wasn't was downright treacherous! Little Nephew, however, was having the time of his life. He's slide around, fall down and yell "That didn't hurt!!" Every once in a while exclaiming "This is GREAT!" To which I'd add "For me, not so much!" Eventually, he'd yell "This is GREAT, but for you, not great!" The worst part was a spot they'd missed right by the school. I got lulled into a false sense of security until we hit a big ice patch. LN fell down (laughing, of course). I managed to stay on my feet but spun around and, according to my nephew, 'screamed like a little girl'. This, apparently, was the highlight of my nephew's morning. I live only to entertain.
I did make it home alive though I had to give a hand to an elderly gentleman at a spot where the business had salted around their building but had neglected the part of the sidewalk that sloped down to the street. Erg! I'm seriously considering getting crampons for my boots if this keeps up.
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9 comments:
you could get yaktrax! For $20 or so they work really well on ice.
That sounds like a great idea. The full-on, ice climbing crampons could be a overkill.
Hi Lucy,
I had to use my yaktrax to get down my front walk and down my front steps in Somerville this morning. They worked great, and they are a hell of a lot less than crampons. Try REI or one of the other similar stores.
DR
Having been to the Harvard Square EMS store tonight, they have Yaktrax walkers ($20, hug shoe without strap) in small and medium, but the Pros (same thing, with strap that goes around to help grip shoe) only in Large and Xtra. Women's size 7 takes a small, FWIW. They may have the smaller sizes by Th/Fr.
Himself not having time to chase to suburban stores to see if they have the right size, mine are on order from REI and will be here the 19th.
I second (third? fourth?) the suggestion for YakTrax! I just got a pair for Hanukkah (glow in the dark, even!), and was tromping around the parking lot like nobody's business, even though I was falling all over during the February ice storm earlier this year. :)
Yeah I fell ass over teakettle yesterday morning!
I gotta get me some glow in the dark thingies.
Jonathan
Can you put Yaktrax on normal shoes? Say, ballet flats or Converse?
Hi Danielle,
I think you probably could. They might squash some of the flimsier ballet flats, and they would still get soaking wet and cold if you stepped in a slush puddle, so that's something to think about. But they'd work with most shoes, since they're basically a big rubber band. I wear mine on my sneakers and my birkenstock clogs.
I think those crampons (awesome/terrible name) might make a lot of noise on the cobblestones. However, I noticed a much smaller shoe clip-on thing at Tags Hardware the other day. I don't know what they're called, but they were hanging up by the register. They cost around $9.
-Phoebe
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