It is March 1 and enough is enough!
It all began Feb. 6 as I drove very cautiously from the airport as the snow was picking up intensity. All winter long I constantly rubbed it in my niece Deb's face, in Boston, that we had just a covering of snow, not even enough to bring out the snow blower. Boston was buried under and I thought that it was pretty funny and normal.
The joke is now on me.
The next couple of days I was housebound because we got at least 60 cm of the white stuff. But enough is enough and here we are, a month later, and it still keeps coming. Jo gives me a weather report every morning which annoys me because I don't believe what they say. I still look out the window and see for myself. As Doris Day use to sing, "Whatever will be, will be."
I said my piece about P.G. being a winter city and P.G. not having the right tools to handle what we often do get. I know the city crews have worked hard to get things cleaned up. Thank God most of the windrows were gone except for the huge piles at driveways. We have a snow blower which Jo actually seems to enjoy using. That is a good thing.
Understandably, people are still having problems parking. With so much snow, folks tend to park willy-nilly wherever they want. But it is not all their fault. The painted curbs which restrict parking at intersections as well as at fire hydrants are not visible as well as parking demarcation lines and handicap parking symbols painted on the road. I have seen pickup trucks, which have limited visibility near the front of their hood, drive right onto the bulb-outs at intersections because it is hard to see them when covered in snow.
There is often a snow barrier between the edge of the sidewalk and the road, such as along Third Avenue west of Vancouver Street as well as on Brunswick Street across from the Coast. A passenger getting out to manoeuvre that barrier is a difficult task for most and an insurmountable task for others.
Blocking fire lanes and taking handicap spaces is still against the law even in winter. I have seen several big extended pickups angle parked so that they are half way into the street.
This is a winter city and it takes a joint effort by the city, businesses as well as drivers to give more consideration to the three or four months every year that we must cope with ideal conditions that summer provides. Minimal space and painted roads function in summer, but not winter.
In my years here, I have not seen so much snowfall over a three-day period. My Jo says it is not a record snowfall year. It is just that it happened all at once. The huge piles of snow at suburban driveways have not had a chance to gradually settle over several months.
I never thought that I would admit to this, but I miss the snow-like cottonwood seeds falling from the trees during the July long weekend BBQ in our backyard.
The various Canadian groundhogs couldn't give a definitive response on how long winter will last. I think that they should all be fired. Costco is more optimistic. They are selling bulbs already, so spring must be on the horizon. I am ready with the four bags we bought..
I will leave you with this note: last week Boston had 25 C degree weather. This week it snowed in Rome. Today it is the same temperature here as in Milan, and it is -6 C in Amsterdam with wind gusts of 20km/h from the north. All are abnormal extremes for those regions.
Climate change? You better believe it!
