winter fun

We've been "enjoying" plenty of real winter weather over the past month. My response to this has been to hunker down and try to ignore it, so that maybe it'll be over sooner. Fortunately for me, I've had lots of reading, homework and such to do which are helping to make the weeks pass way more quickly than they ought to. Unfortunately, almost every day I am forced to open my eyes to the reality of Winter Driving in the BC Lower Mainland.

For any of you who might be interested in driving here sometime in the winter, there are some things you should know.

1. Even though most of this province gets just as much snow as any place else in Canada in the winter, there is a bubble that surrounds the entire Vancouver area. Those living within the bubble have no clue how to deal with the pesky white nuisance when they encounter it in their daily life; they only know how to ski and snowboard on it, and therefore consider it "fun" and somehow better than rain. This is a bizarre attitude which I'll have to focus on sometime in the future. ;-)

Beware lest you become trapped in this bubble!

2. Signs of Bubble Entrapment (BE) include, but are not limited to, the following behaviours:

* City road crews are unable to effectively clear roads of snow, ice, slush and other such nuisances. If a road is plowed and/or salted once during the course of any snowstorm, this is a bonus. Generally "plowing" a road consists of driving down the middle of the road once with a snow plow. It does not include ensuring that there is enough snow-free space for two cars to pass one another. It does not include clearing snow out of the middle of major intersections. It does not include coming back later on should snow continue falling.

* "Plowing" behaviour is consistent even on the roads directly surrounding my son's school, which are hilly and narrow, but become insanely busy around 9 am and 3 pm while parents drop off and pick up their children. Because the snow has taken over the parking space at the side of the roads surrounding the school, many BE parents stop in the middle of the aforementioned poorly cleared single traffic lane to let their children out of the car.

* Even if a road should become clear, non-road crew victims of BE will attempt to sabotage the efforts of the crews by shoveling snow off their driveway and/or sidewalk onto the clear roadway, rather than onto the convenient lawn located next to the sidewalk.

* Regardless of the efforts of these saboteurs, many, many BE victims will suddenly shun the nicely cleared sidewalks in favour of walking on the road. This seems to be a particular favourite activity during times when the roads are slippery and most difficult for drivers to navigate. Before and after school, many parents attempt to indoctrinate their children in the ways of BE by walking with them on the road.

* Any attempts to complain about the aforementioned issues to victims of BE will result in blank stares, and disturbing responses such as "oh well, they don't really have the budget/equipment/experience here to deal with these kinds of things". There is a higher than reasonable expectation among BE victims that the snow will simply melt away if you leave it alone.

OK, all joking aside, I'm really quite fed up with the horrible driving conditions around here. Yesterday, I got on the bus to head up to my 8:30 am class, and the driver wasn't even able to get off of my street; he got stuck a few hundred yards from my house because the road was covered in a good 4-5 inches of slush. The main road, which he was attempting to turn onto, was wet and mostly clear. But even though my street is part of a bus route, and the snow had been falling for a number of hours, it had not yet been cleared. I looked around, thought about the possibility (very low) that I would actually get to my class on time, and walked off the bus and went home. I even kept the kids home, though their schools were open. I was just FED UP.

Today, I'm happy to report, we returned to the usual weather for this time of year - cold rain. I can't tell you how happy I am to see green grass when I look out of the window instead of the ubiquitous white stuff. After all, we're paying the big bucks to live here instead of some other, cheaper, snowier Canadian city. But this winter, we aren't reaping the benefits.