A Berm of Ice and Snow

So last night I tried to get into my car and it was surrounded by a berm of ice and snow and dirt hardened like cement.  Plows had pushed a wall of frozen snow flush against the car.  Neither front door had enough could open.  I had to climb over the icy embankment and crawl in through the back door (that only opened about a foot).  The Volvo started right away, and true to its Swedish roots, pulled out over chunks of gritty snow and into the street.

Up the street in the pale light of 6:30 am, was a car barricaded by the remains of melted and refrozen snow.  To free his car (alternate side parking rules were again in effect) a white bearded man chipped his shovel into what looked like a cement block, the kind used to protect buildings from terrorists or divide highway lanes during construction.