I am a snow idiot. First of all, I love it, which amazes those I know who grew up with the stuff and can’t stand it. Second of all, I can’t drive in it. Third, I love to watch every other Victorian who loves it but who can’t drive in it when it actually snows here. Which isn’t often.
Our house is on a hill. You can’t tell by the picture above, but it is a fairly steep hill. And when we have a significant snow fall, it’s inevitable that a number of snow idiots will come bombing along in their cars over the crest of the hill on the street in front of our house, only to realize that IT’S A HILL. Then, stupidly, they hit their brakes.
I love it. One after another, they go fishtailing down the hill. I guess it isn’t so funny for the people parked on the street when they get sideswiped for the umpteenth time by a snow idiot. On the other hand, if they’ve lived on this street long enough, they should know better than to park their cars on it during a snow storm!
Today we’re having our first snowfall in probably a couple of years. My daughter and I have already been out on a walk in it. But before we could leave the house, it took us forever to find the right clothes and boots. We just don’t NEED them very often so they get lost somewhere during the months and years of non-use. This means we need at least an hour to get ready. People on the prairies must laugh their heads off at us. They wouldn’t even bother going out unless absolutely necessary, whereas we can’t wait to.
Oh yes, and then there are those westcoasters who use their umbrellas when it snows. I’m sure this only a coastal phenomenon because, you see, we HAVE umbrellas. And there’s something falling from the sky, so why not use them? I’m sure that makes for a few more laughs from those prairie types.
When my daughter and I were finally scarved, gloved and toqued (that’s a Canadian hat) so only our faces were exposed, we sauntered out and looked at everybody else who was out walking along, and we all smiled and laughed with each other. I suggested to one elderly couple as we passed them that they should be wearing hats. That’s right, they were walking their dog in a snow storm with no hats on. That’s Victoria. On some of the side streets we could see the tire tracks of the cars that had obviously skidded and hit the sidewalk…there were several of these along our route. “Isn’t this fun?” smiled another lady waiting at the bus stop. We nodded and grinned. As the bus came driving up, the driver didn’t look like he was having much fun, though.
My daughter almost slipped twice. I guess this is why people who are used to snow don’t walk in it unless they absolutely have to. You could kill yourself. I laughed as I saw a fellow out shoveling the snow already. It was only about a centimeter or two deep at that point, so why would he already be shoveling? And what did I do when I got home? Well, I shoveled the sidewalks of course. Might as well get ahead of the game.
When I got inside, there was a phone message from a student. She’s originally from the prairies, so I would have thought that she could handle driving in this stuff. “No,” she said. “It’s all of those other people who DON’T know how to drive in this stuff who scare me.”
Ah, the snow idiots, I thought to myself. I’m guessing that most of my students will probably cancel today, so I’m planning on parking myself on the couch by the living room window to see if I can catch a few fishtails.
IJ