So, most of the above is status quo for me. I'm used to it. Yes, it sucks, but after living with pain for so long you create ways to deal with it and move on. I mean, my ankle literally rolled over at a 90 degree angle, I heard and felt two tendons pop and I really wasn't too concerned. Yes, it hurt. A lot. I'll live.
These injuries and physical setbacks are not what has made the week interesting, however. No, it's been the weather and the daily task of getting to and from work. It seems that we are finally getting a real winter here in Germany, something I've been looking forward to since I moved here. I love the snow. Love skiing in it, walking in it, playing in it, taking pictures of it..... Driving in it, however, especially on bad tires, is not something I enjoy too much. At first glance it seems that my Toyota would be fairly snow-worthy. It's got front wheel drive, axle differential locker thingies and just looks like it should be good in the snow. I've driven it on ski trips and on some sketchy roads in the past and really had no concerns driving it in winter conditions this year - that is, until this past Monday. I had one of the scariest on-snow drives of my life on this morning. I knew things would be bad when I attempted to make a turn at the stoplight down from our house on to the main drag. Instead of turning like it was supposed to, the RAV kept going straight, the turning of the steering wheel having no discernible affect on my direction of travel. I wanted to turn left, but the car had other ideas. A couple pumps of the brakes and some nifty over steering finally got me somewhat going in the direction I needed to go, which could be seen as good or bad. After negotiating the turn, I found myself pointing downhill, sitting on a a very slippery and glimmering piece of asphalt heading straight for a new roundabout that had just been completed the month before.
I generally like roundabouts, but not when they are covered in ice. I was able to get through both traffic circles - barely - and ended pulling over in a grocery store parking lot to catch my breath and settle my nerves. I was hoping that the salt truck or plow would happen by to clean up the roads a bit, but to no avail. I finally mustered up the courage to continue on with my journey and wish I hadn't. I've never white-knuckled a steering wheel more than I did while heading down from the Netto to the newly constructed bridge at the bottom of the hill. I was all over the place. If I touched my brake peal, the back end would start to slide. If I tried to steer a certain direction, the car would go exactly opposite of where I intended it to go. I was fairly positive that I would end up in the Schwarze Laaber (creek) since there were no guardrails to pinball between on the road.
Somehow, someway, I did make it down to the bridge (only realizing this when I finally opened my eyes). I now had to negotiate the uphill that would take me out of the creek valley. I barely, and I mean barely made it to the top of the hill. I was a wreck at this point. I pulled over in to the Penny Mart parking lot to once again catch my breath and to let the shaking in my body abate. I waited a good 20 minutes there, just hoping that the damn salt truck would come by. Nope. I finally did make it to work, me leading 40 other cars, being that slow guy that everyone hates. If anything at all has stuck with me through my years working with the military, it is the commercial that repeats 'Drive to Arrive Alive'. I was in full survival mode at that point, believing anything over 40kmh would ensure instant death for me.
Tuesday - a repeat of Monday.
With two horrible days of driving under my belt, I had to take some action. I never thought that my tires would be the culprit, but it turns out my 'all weather, all season radials' were in bad shape. Usually a set of tires is good for at least 50,000 miles or a couple of years of driving. Something I never considered about living in Germany, however, is the fact that doing a lot of Autobahn driving, often at speeds exceeding 95mph, will quickly wear your tires down. After a quick inspection of my tires with my manager (she being curious since she was having no trouble driving in the conditions), I found that I had absolutely no side tread left on the tires. I was essentially like a fawn walking on a frozen lake for the first time.
One of the first things I did this morning after going downstairs was to turn on the porch light, open the front door and take a look outside to see if the predicted snow storm had indeed materialized overnight. For once, the forecasters may have actually underestimated just how much snow would fall. It looks like there is a good six to eight inches of new snow out there, something I will confirm shortly after a little light starts showing on the horizon. The post I work on has posted a two hour work delay in order to plow the streets and parking lots and to let people slowly trickle in safely. I don't think I'll be going in at all, though. I'm getting brand new snow tires put on the RAV at 2PM today. There is no way in hell I am driving in to post in the worst winter conditions I've seen in four years on the tires I have now. Luckily, the place where I bought the tires and where I'm having them installed is just down the road from the house. I just hope I can drive the 500 meters to the dealership without doing too much damage to my car, fences, stray dogs, parked cars, curbs, fire hydrants, the mean old lady who lives around the corner, etc.... I won't guarantee anything at this point, though.
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