Walkin’ in a winter wonderland

Posted February 2, 2011 by turcios

I commute to school and work on the T and/or the bus. This means some walking and standing around waiting for a bus or T in the elements, while carrying around my daily essentials: coffee, water, food, reading materials for school and for fun, and sometimes my gym clothes.  And as my fellow bloggers have all mentioned, we’ve been getting crazy amounts of snow lately.  If you plan on commuting too, you might want to think about investing in a few things to get you through the snowy, slushy wonderland.
1) You’re gonna need a good, waterproof backpack. Not a shoulder bag. Shoulder bags are fine when the weather’s warmer or when there isn’t any slush, snow, or ice on the ground, but on a snowy day it just becomes something else that might throw you off balance. A good backpack with lots of compartments, including those side mesh pockets for easy access to your water bottle or coffee mug, has worked really well for me.
2) Good waterproof boots with textured soles. Uggs are super warm, but a bit slippery because they don’t really have any traction. I usually wear my LL Bean duck boots with warm socks during my commute and change into my work shoes once I get to the office. (This is another reason why a backpack works better than a shoulder bag.) They’ve also come in handy for those extra slushy days when the sidewalk is full of patches of what I call “liquid concrete.” Basically, that perfect mix of slush and water in night lighting that looks like the rest of the sidewalk ’til you step in it and realize it’s an ankle deep puddle. Wet feet–yuck!  This is also why I like to tuck my pants into my boots as opposed to simply just rolling them up.
3) Waterproof gloves. Even if you aren’t a gloves-scarf-and-hat person (which you might also want to reconsider and just get yourself one of each), you’ll end up wanting at lease a pair of gloves. You might want to sip on a hot caffeinated beverage or catch up on your reading while you’re waiting for the T or the bus.  And then when it gets there, you’ll have to get your Charlie card out to pay your fare.  These have also come in handy when I need to climb over a snow bank.
4) A waterproof coat with a hood. Preferably something with room for layering and about mid-thigh in length. Having a hood comes in handy just in case you do get caught in the middle of a blizzard or wintry mix or just regular old rain storm.
And just in case you haven’t picked up on the trend yet, make sure whatever you go with is waterproof.  The snow and cold really aren’t that bad as long as you’re prepared for it and you do your best to stay dry.