背包走天涯之纽约

It is snowing

My first taste of snow wasn't in New York but in Boston. I went up to Boston with David for a developer's talk on SecondLife and I decided to stay there for 2 nights.

The temperature must have been around -1 deg, and the weatherman said it would feel like -10 with the gusts of wind. Dressed in a shirt, sweater, windbreaker, boots, 40 grams gloves and a Thinsulate snow cap, I thought I was well-equipped enough when I first stepped out of the hostel in the morning. After walking for 15 minutes on the streets I could feel my nose, cheeks and toes were numb. They went so numb I couldn't feel my toes and I wondered if they were still attached to my feet. I had this fear that my toes would come off like stalactites on a cave's celilings. Then there was this difficulty of taking pictures, as the cold wind bit my fingers as soon as I exposed them to snap the camera button. Most of the pictures turned out blurred due to my uncontrollable shaking. I had to take twice of every scene to make sure at least one of them turned out ok. I couldn't stay in the open for too long and everytime I see a Dunkin Donut's (A fast-food restaurant with donut meals) I would seek refuge for a half hour break of hot coffee and donuts. I ended up having 5 cups of coffee, and it's a personal record I am not too proud of. I couldn't finish the sightseeing as a result of those breaks.

I was down at Boston Common admiring the garden when the first flakes of snow fell. They were tiny flakes that danced in the winds and if you didn't look carefully you might actually miss them. Some were caught on my sleeves and I peered at them for a while before I blew them off back into the sky. I reached a conclusion that I like snow, at least for now. Snow doesn't make you wet like rain does, and when it falls to the ground it doesnt make a noisy splattering sound. And you can play with them, though that day's snow wasn't enough for me to make a snow ball I still had fun blowing them off my sleeves.

Note: Due to the upload limits of Flickr I decided to switch to Yahoo!Photos which has unlimited storage. The link is on the right navigator. I have uploaded the pictures of Boston. Enjoy=)

posted by wayne @ 4:56 PM