Roman©What are the chances that I leave the house during lockdown to head to the hospital, only for the Beast From The East 2 to arrive on the same day?
It was a shock to have to get ready and leave the house so early after almost a full year of working from home.
And even more of a shock to be greeted by an icy chill and thick, fresh snow on the ground.
The snow ploughs had a lot of work to do. Despite them having been up and down the roads, the snow just kept on coming.
I took my time and soon I was almost there. Amazingly I had ten minutes to spare, but then I hit traffic.
This was even more of a shock. Lockdown means it’s been forever since I’ve had to sit in traffic!
The reason soon became clear
The cars crawled along and the reason soon became clear. The road to the hospital is quite a steep incline, but it’s not really a main road so it hadn’t been cleared of snow.
I knew that most of the people in the queue would be doctors, nurses and other keyworkers trying to get to their shift.
But cars were getting stuck on the hill, wheels spinning.
That’s when I noticed a man waving his arms at the cars. He wasn’t wearing anything official, but he was directing the traffic in both lanes.
It was my turn to make the incline. I made the mistake of slowing down and my car got dragged to the side by the snow piled up beside the pavement.
I revved and revved but my car wouldn’t budge. The car ahead of me also got stuck.
I wished I could have gone back and thanked him
The man nodded at me, then ran to the other car further up the hill. He gave the driver instructions and the car a bit of a push and the car was dislodged.
He ran back down the hill to me and did the same. I was on my way again.
I’m not sure who he was, but as he didn’t have on a hi-vis jacket I think he might have been doing it just to help.
I wished I could have gone back and thanked him.
A lot of doctors and nurses wouldn’t have made it in and neither would many of their patients, but thanks to him they did.
Another lockdown hero!
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Abigail Phillips Abbie is the newest member of the fiction team at the "Friend." She loves how varied the role is - every day is different and there is always a new story to read. She is keen to work closely with established writers and discover new writers, too.
