Don't be fooled; this is not the real snow. We didn't know what snow was, then. This is the blizzard of aught-three, not yet halfway done doing what it had to do. Also: photographic evidence of fussy Washingtonians carrying umbrellas in a snowstorm:

When we talked on Tuesday, E asked me how the city was handling the blizzard. Pretty well overall, I said: Then-mayor Marion Barry caught flak in '96 for watching the Superbowl in California while the city shut down for a week under snow and ice; by contrast, Mayor Williams happened to be on vacation in the Caribbean last weekend, but reportedly hurried back, and I've heard no complaints. The Phillips Museum and Lauriol Plaza were open on Sunday; very civilized. Major streets were plowed quickly and side streets not long after that. WMATA workers were spotted blowing snow off the Duke Ellington bridge on Monday, for which I am eternally grateful, because without those clear sidewalks I'd have a hard time getting anywhere I can't walk. Work was closed on Tuesday; no complaints there. Mail was delivered on Wednesday. And I haven't had to drive anywhere. So I'd say the biggest problem by far has been the Metro system. It's waaaay overloaded. Many of the subway cars were either damaged or buried in snow, so the system is operating at much less than its usual capacity. When work resumed on Wednesday, I got to the station at 8:00 and spent the next hour watching 5 trains go by, too full to board (although a few people would force themselves on each car). The platform filled up as I waited, so I went home, drank some chai (thanks, Kerri!), and went back to the station at 10:15. No problem, except I had to pay for my tardiness with my own annual leave. To avoid the same problem today, I got to the station at 6:55 a.m. People actually go to work at that hour!

The grocery stores had some trouble getting deliveries. Metro K - IGA, the corner joint, was out of eggs and milk. Whole Foods was out of bagged salad mix, onions, cilantro, zucchini, and frozen pizza, and their entire produce section smelled a tad overripe. The Clementines tempted me -- mmm, citrus! -- until I saw that they were molding in their crates.