Elaine

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

Ah yes, the Great Blizzard of '78! What a fun time to be in Rhode Island! I was an undergraduate at Brown, but was working part-time at Rhode Island Hospital. When the full magnitude of the blizzard was realized, and it was starting to get mighty chilly in the Brown dorms and food was getting scarce, my new boyfriend and I decided to walk to the Hospital (via Route 95 mind you, which was completely closed and a graveyard of half-buried cars and trucks) and strand ourselves there, where there was plenty of free food, warmth, and entertainment. (As I recall, delivery trucks loaded with food, magazines, and movie reels destined for the Newport Naval Air Station were stranded on Route 95 right in front of the hospital, so they brought everything over for the stranded hospital personnel to enjoy.) We slept in a secluded computer room, which was quite warm due to all of the humming electrical equipment, and I promptly lost my virginity—terribly exciting and romantic!

Originally posted to the alt.rhode_island newsgroup, January 7, 1994.