Traditionally, on the eve of a giant winter snowstorm, supermarkets are mobbed with shoppers buying milk, bread and eggs to see them through the storm. That’s because it’s considered unwise to be unprepared for the possibility of being trapped at home for a few days. Nobody wants to run out of food in the middle of a blizzard, or God forbid, have to live off the fat we Americans have a propensity for storing at various places on our bodies. My own nightmare would consist of having to subsist on oatmeal for a day or two.
This past Sunday, weather forecasters predicted that York would get somewhere between five and eight inches of snow on Monday, which turned out to be an accurate forecast. That’s why I made a trek to the grocery store on Sunday night. I was expecting to battle a hoard of pre-storm shoppers, but was pleasantly greeted by an empty parking lot instead. The scene was almost eerie. The grocery store was brightly lit, and an icy sheen on the pavement outside reflected the soft orange glow of the lights in the parking lot. One car was parked in a handicap space, but the lot was mostly empty, except for a cluster of snow-covered cars parked about a hundred yards from the store – presumably the vehicles belonging to grocery store employees. It was 7 p.m., but the scene looked more like the middle of the night.
There are two words that explain that phenomenon: super & bowl!
After collecting all the groceries I needed, I asked the clerk in the check-out aisle whether business was booming earlier that afternoon. She said it was no different than the usual Sunday traffic. Go figure! Apparently, few people shop for groceries during the Super Bowl, even when the game takes place on the eve of a giant winter snowstorm. Live and learn.
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