Friday, December 07, 2007

Missing the Bachata

At 6 this evening, I was outside shoveling snow from my sidewalk and driveway. During the summer and fall, if I were outside my house at 6 on a Friday, I'd be enjoying the great bachata music being blasted at the corner bodega. Tonight, in the cold and snow, there were hardly any sounds at all. It was so silent, I could hear the crunching footsteps of a man walking up the middle of the street. I do really enjoy the quiet of new snow, but I definitely miss the music. I wonder how much the city's Dominican population has grown in recent years. It seemed like I was hearing Zacarias Ferreira's songs everywhere in Waterbury. It was great.

I stepped back outside a little after 8 tonight. The snow stopped falling before 6pm, and amounted to about an inch of lightweight powder, but the streets are like ice from snow getting packed down tight by cars. A neighbor driving slowly down the street said there was at least one really bad accident on Oak Street. There's no sign of city plows putting down sand--but, of course, even after the snow had started, the weather reports were still claiming that it probably wouldn't do anything.

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