I truly feared for my life today

 This shouldn't have been a big deal, it was not something I was expecting. Yet here we are.

I went on a walk today, after many days, it felt like the weather was warmish it wasn't raining or snowing anymore and the roommates had nothing to complain about being outside. They hadn't left the house in many hours.

I went outside. Our street was clear, and fine. Whatever, I was not worried. There had been some sleet before -- by the way anybody know the past tense of 'to sleet' because I sure don't -- and the ground was a bit slippery, nothing to worry about. I had trouble walking the first couple of streets, but nothing to worry about it wasn't not a big deal.

And then shit hit the very cold and slippery fan. Because I was having trouble keeping my feet firmly on the ground. My shoes were knew hiking boots, so it's not like they're bad for walking in this kind of weather, but the entire sidewalk was covered in black ice. And so were the streets. NO sand or ice, just treacherous slippery ice, ready to cause a fall break your leg or head. Or even worse, cause you to fall right in front of an incoming vehicle and take your life away.

I'm not kidding, between the Tufts area and our apartment there's a lot of downslope and I genuinely thought I could slip and hit the roads, get my neck under a car's tire. I was skating on my shoes for a bit, but that didn't help. There wasn't snow everywhere to walk on instead, where there was it had hardened so it was even more dangerous. So. Very. Tricky.

I've lived in Boston for the last ten years and have never had trouble walking. It's something one does with two feet and a whole lot of care and situational awareness, I thought. People afraid of walking on the snow are noobs, unprepared folks from the warmer regions.

Oh so wrong I was, so very wrong.

After getting home I shared my ordeal with the rest of the gang. FOTH I who had been over to chill for the evening was concerned so he planned on heading out early. Two minutes out on his walk, he abandoned it and came back ready to call an Uber. Because the chance of contracting covid in an uber is much lower than the likelihood of him breaking or smashing at least one body part on his walk back home.

This was the most dangerous urban walk I've ever been on. It's a surprised I even completed it. Took me twice as long as it usually does, for maybe just seventy percent of the loop.

Ooof.