BOSTON (AP) – Sal Bartolo removed his gloves, took off his jacket and slipped right into Richie Firicano’s red leather barber chair Thursday morning – no waiting.

“The old-timers, they aren’t going to walk up the street in this snow and ice,” Firicano said.

There are certain advantages to the record-breaking snowfall that has paralyzed New England this month.

A blizzard over the weekend dropped more than 3 feet of snow in some places, and up to 11 inches more fell Wednesday and Thursday for a January total of 43.1 inches in Boston – more snow than in any month since the National Weather Service began keeping records in 1892. The previous record of 41.6 inches was set in February 2003.

In Providence, R.I., the snowfall total for January stood at 36.7 inches, approaching the 1996 record of 37.4.

With temperatures expected to remain below the freezing mark through the weekend, all that snow is going to stick around for a while.

The snow has delayed trains, slowed traffic to a crawl and turned streets into obstacle courses. Towing companies have been busy pulling snowbound cars from streets, and some gas stations have had to close because deliveries of gasoline could not get through.

Denise Murphy, a 46-year-old employment lawyer, walked through downtown Boston in chunky boots and a fur-trimmed parka. She said her usual hour-and-20-minute commute by car and train from took 21/2 hours Wednesday morning. It took three hours to get home.

“It’s exhausting,” she said. “After driving, waiting for trains, getting crammed on them, freezing while I’m doing it, and then walk, I’m so cold, and I’m so tired. I feel like I’ve put in a full day already.”

Boston schools reopened Wednesday after being closed Monday and Tuesday. But parents complained that it was unsafe because the sidewalks and streets were too icy and cramped by enormous piles of snow. The city responded by canceling classes for the rest of the week, and many other districts made the same decision.

Not all have suffered. Mark Montplaisir, manager of diMio pizzeria in Boston, where many residents still had not dug out their cars from the blizzard, said his shop has been making 30 to 45 deliveries a day, up from the usual 20.

“You can’t blame ‘em,” he said. “Who wants to go out when you can get someone to deliver?”

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