The women and girls were keeping us fed and plenty liquored up. Homemade lasagna, sandwiches, even boiled lobsters that were fetched from nearby Revere Beach (thousands of them washed ashore and we put them in Hefty bags and toted them home). The radio was warning people not to eat lobsters that washed up on the beaches but I don't know of anybody that got sick from it.
A lot of vivid memories from that 1978 blizzard. I remember the National Guard coming down Revere Street with their amphibious vehicles. Helicopters were dropping food items into areas that were still impossible to reach by motor vehicle days later. The Revere high school was closed for three weeks because it was being used as a shelter. Many residents in low-lying areas had their homes completely destroyed by sea water.
That was the New England storm that all other storms are measured by. Some areas had 40 inches of snow but the main problem was caused by the wind and coastal flooding. It was basically a Cat 2 hurricane with snow.
I worked at Richardson's dairy and the forecast was only for a few inches, and I had to got in early (4AM) to help process milk before loading the 12 ton truck and head to stores in Malden, Everett and Lynn (Tuesday's run being done on Wed.). I woke up about 3AM to find many inches of snow, and shoveled for a long time (living in Danvers) to get to the street, only to find that even with 15'' studded snow tires on my 67 Catalina then I could not drive.
That night I went in to help process milk, and loaded the truck, and slept across the street where the pasteurizer and wife were staying. Next morning I found myself about the only vehicle on Rt. 1, and the big 10.00 truck tires dug thru the snow well enough. First stop normally got 15 cases (9 half gals to a case or 4 gals) for two days, and owner said "give me all the milk you can" so i gave him 90 cases (which I should not have).
Then he asked us (I had a young helper) to go down the street and pick up 100 loaves of bread. We owed him a favor so i did that, and an hour later we came back. With no racks the bread was stacked like milk cases and so the bottom ones were like pancakes, which they sold like. Owner said he had 10 cases of milk left. All the stops were looking for milk. Thank God for His manifold grace.
"all the males on the street 14 and older just got to it"
In this populous city it seems like most all the males on the street until age 30 stay inside.