So far, 2011 has been a blast, though we have been just bombarded by snow. So much so, the word "snowpocalypse" has already gotten old. There are big piles of snow that resemble cars, snow grooves in the road so deep it's as though you are connected to tracks, abandoned vehicles, and I have witnessed people rescuing those with wheelchairs and strollers and walkers who have been forced to leave the house for desperate reasons.
And that has been the grandest observation: people have been especially kind to each other. It's like we all have a common enemy: the weather.
There are a few homeless men around our neighbourhood and we have witnessed two of them helping dig people out of snowbanks. One asked Greg and I if we needed help shoveling ourselves out as he had been wandering around helping people. Amazing.
And while it has been very easy for many Edmontonians to utter things like "Why can't people figure out how to drive in snow?", "Winter comes every year, get your shit together", I have to say... there is no way to be prepared for what happens out there when 30cm of snow drops over two days. This has been the biggest snowfall in 50 years. Even if you have been driving every winter for the past decade, this is different. Normal rules don't apply here.
Many people were snowbound, some voluntarily. There were obvious snow days, buses couldn't run, school buses were parked, it took an extra hour and a half to get anywhere, and in the evenings people refused to leave the house. Many people just stayed in for weeks...
But not Greg and I. Snow be damned, we were out every Thursday for our pub nights with "Mini Pizzas featuring Live Music" ;) and the rest of our social activities that make our weeks fly by and our lay ins even more precious. It was a like some weird badge of honour to be able to look out the window of the Crown & Anchor with a pint in my hand and a bluegrass band on the stage and lament how shitty the drive home was going to be.
Crazy? Perhaps. Hazardous? Most likely. Stupid? Of course.
Canadian? Fuck yeah.
