When a nor'easter climbs up over Gardiner's Bay, East Hampton hears it before it sees it: wind in the shingles first, then the white coming sideways across Montauk Highway. East End snow Removal goes out into exactly that, plowing drives, opening walks, treating the ice where the wind has polished it smooth. Out on this end of the island the ocean keeps the temperature arguing with itself, so a storm can start as powder and turn to something far heavier by dawn, which is why the early pass is the one that counts. Nothing about the work is complicated and everything about the result is dependable: the car moves, the mail comes, the day happens on schedule. The bank at the end of the driveway is the proof.