Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, January 23, 1994                   TAG: 9401230065
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IT REALLY FELT GOOD TO BE OUT

"I had to get out," said JoAnn Hayden of Roanoke, who joined a crowd of shoppers at Valley View Mall that rivaled the holiday crowds.

"There's only so much you can do at home. I've been to the bedroom, the kitchen, the den.

"And there is no more TV to be watched," she said, nodding toward daughter Jessica, 10.

Paul Nickelston had been cooped up at his home in Martinsville for two weeks - in part because of the flu, in part because of the weather.

"After sitting in for two weeks, it really does feel good to be out," he said, doing nothing more than sitting on a bench inside the mall. Nickelston left the hustle and bustle of shopping to the family members who accompanied him.

Capt. M.W. Bishop, who works for Valley View's security force, stood at the top of an escalator and surveyed the activity.

"This is a little less than holiday crowds," he said. "But it's more than the average Saturday. I'm sure it's because people have been shut in all week."

Checkout lines at some grocery stores snaked back into the food aisles. Shoppers slumped wearily over their carts in lines eight to 10 people deep.

Ricky Ellis, store manager of the Food Lion on Peters Creek Road, was sympathetic - but pleased.

"It's been very, very good business for us today," he said. "We expected it with the warming of temperatures.

"We have some people who are buying a few odds and ends. But we have a lot of people who just flat ran out of groceries and are filling those buggies up."

John Gaston and his sister Dyan visited the playground in Salem's Longwood Park, gingerly sidestepping the solid sheets of ice and opting for the squishy wet mulch. The possibility of slipping didn't matter.

"We were tired of being stuck inside," said John, 12. Coloring books and video games were getting a little old, he explained.

Saturday's temperatures reached 46, according to the National Weather Service. Today's highs are expected to be near 40. Monday should be a virtual heat wave, with highs forecast in the low 50s.

That may ease the temperaments of anxious golfers, who have been phoning the Countryside golf course in Roanoke since news broke that warmer temperatures were headed this way.

But the course still is too wet and the greens too icy, said Jacob Aylor, a Countryside employee.

Are golfers upset?

"Yeah," Aylor said. "Hey, it's killing me not to be able to play. I can't stand it."