Snow+Florida Prison == ???

Okay. It's January 21st, 2025.
I'm still housed at Blessington Correctional Facility. It's the day after a national holiday, and we're expecting it to be Business As Usual.

We have breakfast, and the 06:00 Census Count that follows that meal.

After that count this morning, we were told Education and Vocational callouts (classes) were cancelled for the day, because it's supposed to snow. All other callouts (like Medical and Dental) are being performed this morning; afternoon appointments shall go with morning appointments, to ensure everyone is seen before the snow starts.

Wait. This is Floriderp. I don't think much of it: Floriderpians get panicky over an amount of snow less than someone's really bad dandruff. My home city needs more than a foot on the ground before problems happen.

It's barely above 0°C (32°F) outside today, according to the news. Unless you were lucky or financially solvent enough, you don't have a pair of thermals to pull on.
Thankfully, the vast majority of us are inside all day, where it's warm.

It's an uneventful day.
I even get my meals correctly for the first time in days. Hold the meat, please.

It's a quarter to 14:00, and my cellie enters the cell asking me, "You're not going to Insulin?"
Insulin call is usually a quarter after 14:00, thirty minutes out, but as I shuffle out in my salvage titled sneakers, they are sending us all the way out the door to get down to Medical so we can test, medicate, and get our snack for return.

I blow through the door, and hear a shout to hold up a second.
"Please return this wheelchair to Medical," I was asked by the officer as the first pellets of freezing rain spit down at us. Sure, I comply, using this to my advantage -- this bariatric wheelchair is a physical support for me, helping me to stay upright as I briskly take off down the hill into the wind.

Señor C is keeping pace with me, and in his limited English tells me it is mucho frio -- he's not used to snow-like conditions, and we're truly not dressed well for them, either. The wind cuts through our prison blues like a hot knife through softened butter, sucking the warmth out of us as we charge quickly along the walk to get to where it's warmer and less windy.

It was chilly, yes, but I could at least stand it a bit better than most, thanks to previous experiences. After all, walking to and from work, uphill both ways in the snow IS something I've actually done. 😆
(Really: you go uphill when crossing some bridges, so...!)

On the other hand, an officer fell in line behind me as I'm making my beeline to Medical, cursing up a blue streak about the weather, and how it can go back up north where it came from. I had to not laugh at that.

There were several people in the lobby for Medical waiting to get their Insulin dose, saying they have never seen snow before.

One young fellow said something to me like "It's nothing like what they showed on TV." I ask him,

You mean, the big fat flakes that people catch on their tongues?

His eyes lit up, happy that someone understood what he was thinking. So, I tell him:

Look straight through those windows. You should see what you're thinking of -- we were walking as it first started, but now it's been 10 minutes. Those flakes are so fat, I can see them without glasses on.

He gets up from his seat, looks out the windows I highlighted, and breathes an expletive at seeing "real" snow.

By the time our dorm was ready for escort back to where we stay (an hour later), the rec yard had a slight but noticeable cover of snow -- enough that you know it came down and stuck for a minute, but not enough on the walks to make it treacherous to walk back. The wind had died down, though we had some flakes come down and go plopplopplop on our jackets and faces.

I'm chuckling a little as I come in to the dorm and my wing, listening to the shouts of "Pill line!" and avoiding the surge of people.

Talking with a fellow in the dorm here from the Bahamas, he tells me he is absolutely not used to snow. His laugh is infectious; even I have a chuckle.

I look at the door to our wing, and here comes JJ. He tells me that if this is what snow is like, he's all for moving where there IS snow! He's all smiles at this turn of weather, and another resident here tells him he's never seen him this happy.

== A multitude of responses!

To see so many people experience something new to them, and to join in their merriment made this place feel a little warmer today.

It brings to mind a comic, XKCD, where there's a discussion about how every day, a number of people discover for the first time something that may be old hat to us.

I'm calling it a day, burying myself under my blankets.
I'm cold now, but at least my heart has been warmed. :)