More than 150,000 cars have been stranded on the roads in Amman last night. I was one of them, but it does not erase my affection for snow and precipitation.
As of Thursday, the reservoirs that had stood at 14.6 percent capacity had reached 31.4 percent capacity. I love it. Now if we can capture all the runoff, Jordan's water problems will be solved.
I left the Jesuit Center last night at 6:00 p.m. to take a Jesuit to the airport. I got to Abdoun by 6:30 and it looked bleak. We skidded all the way down the hill from the Syrian embassy to airport road while the temperatures were stuck at -1 Celsius. No matter how we tried, we could not convince Jordanians how to drive.
We pulled over on the road that leads to Marj-al-Hamam, but could not get up the hill. After resolving to walk home or to a hotel, we decided to drive home. No chance. We huddled under the overpass with dozens of other cars and waited 6 hours with only a quarter tank of gas. Drivers left their abandoned cars on the ramps so that no one else could move. No plows or shovels or policemen to help stranded motorists.
You would think Jordan would have a ready supply of sand nearby.
At 12:30 a.m., we decided to give the ramp a shot. It took us about twenty minutes to navigate the ramp and then we were home free except for the Egyptians ahead of us who kept braking and stopping to change drivers like a Chinese fire drill. Stranded cars were strewn across the roads, but the temperatures rose to 3 degree Celsius. We drove in slush instead of ice.
When we made it back home, we spoke with Mr. Dewars for a brief spell while we warmed up. When I went to bed, my body just shivered. Thanks be to God we have electric sleeping blankets.
Oh my gosh! So much snow, which is great for the water supply and horrible for driving over there! I hope that you did not waste any water in your meeting with Mr. Dewars; he is often met face-to-face, straight up!
ReplyDeleteJust a drop to relax him. He was a great conversationalist.
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