We got over two feet of snow with drifts to six feet!
I remember it well.
I was working at Allied Control in Plantsville CT that Monday morning as a senior electronic technician, at the time I was four years out of college and I was still living with my parents at the time. The drive to work took twenty minutes and it wasn’t snowing yet but the forecast was what I called a nuisance storm; it wasn’t enough to close work but just enough to have to shovel and make driving treacherous.
I had already given my two week notice and I still had plenty of vacation days left, so around noon the snow was coming down hard and I told my boss that I was taking a half day vacation.
Well that twenty minute drive took over three hours and many at work never made it home that night, some even stayed at work over night.
I woke up to silence that morning; everything was dark and cold… no electricity and the snow was still coming down!
So I started a fire in the fireplace and went down in the basement and brought up my camping stove and gas lantern. I made coffee for my parents and we huddled around the battery powered radio listening to WTIC and Bob Steele.
Around noon I started the snow blower and started clearing the driveway. The snow was way over the top of the snow blower so I was shoveling it down into the snow blower. After many trips inside to warm up by the fire the driveway was done but there was no place to go because the road wasn’t plowed and there were six foot drifts across the road.
We then learned that the governor had shut down the state for three days.
Late Tuesday a bulldozer came down the street clearing one path. We later learned that a neighbor died that morning from shoveling the snow and they couldn’t get an ambulance there until the afternoon when the bulldozer came through.
On Wednesday we finally had the street plowed and with the roads still all closed I cross country skied over to a friend’s house on Chamberlain Highway.
Thursday we back to work…
So the big boss came around and asked me if I called in on Tuesday and Wednesday and I said no the state was closed. He said that the company rules were that you had to call in, so I got docked two days pay even though I was salary non-exempt. He went and asked the other technicians if they called in, since they all heard what he said to me they all said that they called but there was no answer and they got paid.
I could have made a stink about it but since Friday was my last day there I let it go.
Here are some articles about the Blizzard of ‘78
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant photo spread
WTNH
I remember it well.
I was working at Allied Control in Plantsville CT that Monday morning as a senior electronic technician, at the time I was four years out of college and I was still living with my parents at the time. The drive to work took twenty minutes and it wasn’t snowing yet but the forecast was what I called a nuisance storm; it wasn’t enough to close work but just enough to have to shovel and make driving treacherous.
I had already given my two week notice and I still had plenty of vacation days left, so around noon the snow was coming down hard and I told my boss that I was taking a half day vacation.
Well that twenty minute drive took over three hours and many at work never made it home that night, some even stayed at work over night.
I woke up to silence that morning; everything was dark and cold… no electricity and the snow was still coming down!
So I started a fire in the fireplace and went down in the basement and brought up my camping stove and gas lantern. I made coffee for my parents and we huddled around the battery powered radio listening to WTIC and Bob Steele.
Around noon I started the snow blower and started clearing the driveway. The snow was way over the top of the snow blower so I was shoveling it down into the snow blower. After many trips inside to warm up by the fire the driveway was done but there was no place to go because the road wasn’t plowed and there were six foot drifts across the road.
We then learned that the governor had shut down the state for three days.
Late Tuesday a bulldozer came down the street clearing one path. We later learned that a neighbor died that morning from shoveling the snow and they couldn’t get an ambulance there until the afternoon when the bulldozer came through.
On Wednesday we finally had the street plowed and with the roads still all closed I cross country skied over to a friend’s house on Chamberlain Highway.
Thursday we back to work…
So the big boss came around and asked me if I called in on Tuesday and Wednesday and I said no the state was closed. He said that the company rules were that you had to call in, so I got docked two days pay even though I was salary non-exempt. He went and asked the other technicians if they called in, since they all heard what he said to me they all said that they called but there was no answer and they got paid.
I could have made a stink about it but since Friday was my last day there I let it go.
Here are some articles about the Blizzard of ‘78
The Hartford Courant
The Hartford Courant photo spread
WTNH
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