A Great Adventure in Snowdriving
Monday, February 06, 2006
Last Tuesday night's snowstorm dumped (what felt like) half a meter of snow on poor Halifax, and the next morning, people who had somewhere to be (like me) had to start digging out. It looked something like this:
The snow hadn't been properly cleared from the highways, even by mid-afternoon, and I had to drive ata snail's pace all the way from Halifax to Moncton. This was my first (and the last, I think) time I went highway driving after such a big snowstorm. My knuckles are still white, even now. Every so often, the old Volvo's back wheels would start spinning, and the speedometer's readings would get all confused. The double lane highway was reduced to the size of a narrow dirt road, with wind gusts bklowing snow all aovert the place. None of the off-ramps seemed to have been cleared, so I couldn't even wimp out and turn around. At one point, an impatient idiot came barreling past with his brand new Mazda3 - and lo, about a 100 km further on, the car was lying in a ditch by the side of the road.
By contrast, when I got to Fredericton (luckily without incident), there was virtually no snow on the ground, and it looked like this:
Have you guys got some sort of protective bubble around you, or what?
Yes, I chanted some magical words and VOILA! Fredericton is now an enchanted fairy-tale land, where the weather is always lovely and everyone lives in bliss. I was paid a large sum of money by the people of Fredericton and I used all the powers I had, so I cannot cast any more magic for another 3 centuries. Sorry....