The downside of Winter.
You might think the cold, or ice, or long darkness, or even the snow might be a downside, but they are not.The downside is shoveling snow. More specifically, shoveling the snow from the front of my driveway.
It takes me very little time to shovel the driveway - less than half an hour; today it was 20 minutes, the snow was light and powdery (it was also a brisk -20C (-4F) with a windchill of -37C (-35F) - like Renny said, there is no such thing as poor weather, just poorly dressed people).
The pain in shoveling snow comes in cleaning the snow the city crews plow into the front of my driveway as they clear the street of snow. Cleaning it usually takes between half and hour to an hour because (1) it is heavy, (2) it is packed tight, (3) it is frozen or has frozen bits. It becomes frozen because salt and slush are usually mixed in with it.
Oddly enough, it is illegal for me to push my snow out into the street (at least in Ottawa), but it is perfectly legal for the city crews to push snow back into my driveway.
"I would rather see a crooked furrow than a field unplowed." - Paul JewkesImage nabbed from here.
Comments
Here in Oslo, during winters with lots of snow, the snow ploghs simply locket in cars, no chance to dig out until spring. But you know what happened: They got a Ticket for standing too long. Wonderful. Special for elderly.
Besides the snow and cold weather, everything is OK?
=^.^=
toraa: there has been some debate in Ottawa about the snow plows pushing snow back into people's driveways - especially in the case of elderly people - but, as is usual, nothing was resolved.
I do take your point of the challenge for the adults about the shovel, but I try to look at it as good exercisers.
Wishing you a lovely end to your week and remember; you can have a lot of fun with the snow too:-)
With the little snow and ice we got here this year, the freeways were covered with little rocks and in just one week, my windshield took three hits, one delivering the fatal blow that will surely require replacement soon! I know several people that have had to replace their windshields 5 times in the last year driving over the mountain pass!
Yet, I still can't help but feeling the desire to go spend a weekend in the mountains, with snow all around!
Inconvenient? Yes. Magical? Most definitely.
-20C and windchill 0f -37C??whoahhhh,thats too much for me!
But in fairness,the snowy place is really beautiful for me :)
take care then..