An ice storm reaches Princeton without much noise — rain at midnight, then a glaze over every step and lot from Nassau Street back to the Hulfish Street parking. Maintenance By Chambres, Inc keeps that hour, plowing, shoveling walks and entryways, and spreading salt across the surfaces people will cross before the shops open. Downtown winter is measured in doorways and curb cuts, the small places where a storm actually reaches somebody. By the time the first coffee is poured the sidewalks are dark and gritted and nobody has to think about them. Princeton, Kingston, Lawrenceville and Plainsboro get the same treatment when a storm comes through.