Whenever we have a snowy Winter, the following Spring is unique in that there are potholes and street damage everywhere. Back during the Blizzard of '96, the joke going around was that Mayor Barry had a brand new snow removal plan for the District. It was called Spring. And then that Spring one of the local radio stations staged a "help Mayor Barry fill the potholes" program -- much like a museum donor program where you could purchase a brick with your name on it to help build the facility. But in this case, they would take a brick, write your name on it with black magic marker and then go downtown and throw it in a pothole.


A snowplow picked up this gas main cover in our neighborhood a street over back during our Year of Living Snowfully. The asphalt around it was damaged so if now someone runs over it accidentally, the cover pops up and then sticks up three inches in the middle of the road. Sometimes there's a caution sign over it that stays for a day or two and then disappears, but it never seems to actually get fixed. The neighborhood has gotten used to it and we all just swerve widely around it as we drive through that intersection and go on with our lives. But every time I swerve around it, I have to yell, "ARE YOU TOO GOOD FOR YOUR HOME?"