All in a Hard Day's Work

UHHHH this post was eaten four times...
I did not smoke
I did not maim anyone
I think I'm doing well

Okay on to more important things. We had a major blizzard yesterday. So major that I can honestly say I had never seen anything like it in my lifetime. The usual blizzard warnings went out, and I ignored them as usual. I mean I'm not totally reckless (you may not believe me later) but honestly, we get these blizzard warnings all the time. So unless I plan on highway travel, I don't pay that much attention to them. Besides, yesterday morning was quite nice, a bit gusty but other than that the snow was falling softly, it was just pretty. Then the snow kept falling, and falling, and falling, and the temperature followed suit. Oh and the wind, not to be outdone, instead of falling, picked up. By afternoon we were dealing with 115km per hour gusting winds creating huge snowdrifts. I still was not worried. Besides, I was good, I got up early, went outside and shovelled.

Later I found out all the provincial highways were closed, the city closed the bridges and visibility was so bad you couldn't even see one car length in front of you. In fact people took more than five hours to get home from work when a normal drive would be 30 minutes, stores closed early, the hospitals, schools, etc, all followed suit. Sadly, there were also fatalities. Two people died, just 200 metres from their home, when their car hit the ditch and they tried to walk but got lost. I should have been worried, but I wasn't.

Instead, I went for lunch! Yes, yes I know. Well see it was like this, around 1pm Camellea called to tell me she had the afternoon off, since the University sent her home. I've never heard of the University shutting down... but all that happened was I did a quick mental check to see if I was stocked up on all the basics. *CRAP* nope I was down to the last can of cat food and no more cat litter. So I started whining about cat food and litter as Camellea started babbling about going for a late lunch. Not only that, but Camellea knew that the Shopper's Drug Mart was going to stay open till 3:30 pm, so we decided I could get the cat litter and food there, then run across the street to the restaurant for lunch.

I threw on my jacket and headed for the door, opened it and gaped in horror. Not only did it not look like I had shovelled that morning, it looked like I've never seen a shovel before in my life. I quickly called Camellea back, and she said she would try to get down my road, but if she couldn't I should just walk to the main intersection and she would pick me up there (approximately five houses away).

In theory, that sounded like a good plan, however, it wasn't. Fortunately for me, Camellea managed to get her car in front of my house, and then waited the 4 minutes while I navigated from my door to her car basically swimming through waist high snow. It was so ridiculous we were almost crying with laughter by the time I stumbled into the car.

Then we drove at a snail's pace to the store, where I then stood in line forever. People were flocking to the store, stocking up on milk, bread, flashlights, batteries...and there I am with cat litter and cat food.

Okay forget that, we then go to the restaurant, and the owner greets us at the door. I ask if she's going to close, and she says, "Why bother, there's no way we can get home anyway, might as well stay open all night!" So we settled in for lunch, which took a rather long time since there was only one waitress for the entire place. Finally we decide we should get moving. By then the gentle snow was harsh pellets of some sleet like thing pounding us as we ran for the car. The car was almost frozen in place, but we made it out, and then 6 blocks later we were stuck. Fortunately, Camellea is the queen of rocking the car then stomping on the gas, so we shot around the corner and headed for the home stretch.

After reaching home, I spent the rest of the evening was spent listening to my friends tell me their horror stories and watching the news spew on and on about how you should not go outside in this weather unless it's a matter of life and death.

And I say I'm not reckless!
-Swapna