in southeastern New England,
one consequence of snowstorm after snowstorm,
with ice, freezing, downed trees, and power failures,
is that
electronic communications are tangled and snarled up
even after the streets have been plowed
and the motor traffic is rolling along as usual.

Having no computer at home of my own,
I rely on public computer workstations.
And these have not been the same since all the storms hit.
The internet providers hereabouts are all overburdened and slow.
Don't even ask about telephones and voice-mail;
here at a local branch of FedEx Office [formerly known as Kinko's]
the staff is cheerfully working jobs
at their copiers and printers, with electricity on,
but their telephones are snarled up and they can't call out
without hitting voice-mail hold-message recordings.