What Lies Beneath the Snow
Trash photo by Elliot Scott/Flickr
Ah, it’s springtime in the city, and there’s nothing like sunshine, mellow breezes, and generous amounts of garbage to remind us of the season’s gentle reawakening. It’s truly a beautiful time to be alive in Boston.
Just a month ago, the city had removed 200 tons of trash (about 400,000 pounds) when the snow started to melt. This is a problem the city faces year to year, but after basking in our glory of a record-breaking 100+ inches of snowfall this winter, trash conditions were rather heightened. (Punished for being champions, I suppose.)
Here we are in mid-April, the snow is nearly vanished, and, alas, some weird things have emerged from the depths of the dirt-painted snow. Unfortunately, the sanity that you forfeited sometime back in February was not found. It’s lost, but never forgotten.
Here’s a collection of things found around New England:
A guy in New Bedford, Mass., lost his wedding ring in the snow the day before Valentine’s Day (sad!). His kind neighbor found it in a melting snowbank months later. “Billy, is our hero,” the wedding ring owner said (happy!).
A Walmart customer in Maine was being a good citizen by picking up trash in the parking lot, only to discover a stack of cash hidden underneath snow. Another customer reported losing the money in the parking lot months before, and the cash was returned to its rightful owner. The real question is: why was he casually carrying $4,000 in cash?
2014 & 2015: the years of the time capsule. When a snowplow hit a pillar in front of a church in Maine, he dug up a century-old time capsule the congregation was searching for since 2013. In it: some historic documents and coins. It was probably more exciting for the people involved.
A 40-year-old East Boston man was identified after being found in a person’s backyard in Revere. He was discovered the first week in April, and officials are still looking into a cause of death.
A New Hampshire guy left his car in a parking lot while out of town for several weeks, but it was reported missing by his friends when they checked up on it. It was eventually located underneath a pile of snow dumped by plows. Between leaving one’s car in a lot, and disregarding the snow as a potential thief, all common sense was avoided in this situation.
More than a dozen frozen carcasses were found in a Cornwall farm in Connecticut. The operators of the farm were charged with animal cruelty, so you can still sleep knowing that other goats will be OK.
They’re a popular find year after year, but “Buttlers” out of Portland, Maine, are helping with the issue after disposing 300,000 cigarette butts since December. Stop being gross, citizens!
Isn’t that a pleasant surprise.
Like a gross time capsule, as the snow melts we see weeks past, this is confetti from the pats parade pic.twitter.com/l30TJRXQ1x
— Susie Steimle (@SusieSteimle) March 5, 2015
