So winter has finally arrived here in Campbell River. Real winter. With snow, a freezing temperatures and windchills. Yes, it is winter. As illustrated in the above pictures I took on the way home from the gym today. On the way home from the gym because there's too much snow to run outside, so I have to use the treadmill at the gym. Actually, the walk to get to the gym is a workout in itself, because the plows like to spread the snow from the road up onto the sidewalk, thus making walking very slow and irritating.So this all started last Saturday, while I was sleeping off my last night shift, and the insanity has continued since. Normally, the snow melts as soon as it hits the ground, and it's all gone within a few days. But not this time. This time it's about -4, and it hasn't gotten any warmer. So the snow's not melting. Which is, to a former Albertan like me, hilarious to watch. On Monday, the RCMP were telling people that if they didn't have good snow tires, to stay home if they didn't have to go out. SNOW TIRES! Who in Campbell River has snow tires? The roads were fine, by the way, as long as you kept it slow and knew what you were doing. Which, of course, most people here don't. Case in point, Glen and I were on the on the way to the video store on Saturday night, walking, and this one car swerved off the road and CLUNK! Right into a light post. On a straight, flat road. Neither of us could figure out what he was doing but it looked like he had just steered right into the post. Then he sits there for a minute, and just drives away. Doesn't get out of his car to check the damage, just drives away. So Glen and I checked the lightpost, and he'd lost about a foot and a half off his bumper, and his headlight. And he didn't even get out to check!
It started snowing again last night and has kept going all day, leaving us with a snow base of a good 2 feet. Schools everywhere north of practically Nanaimo are closed. I can't quite figure out why, since most of the main streets are plowed, and again, it's only -4 degrees. On Monday when I went into the gym, the lady asked me if I drove and when I said yes she was amazed. But then I had to qualify that by saying I'm from Alberta and this is nothing. Really. All of you probably wouldn't bat an eye at this weather. But Campbell River has ground to a near stand still. I just watched a guy try to get out of our parking lot, and he needed three people to push him out. Of course, if he had stepped on the gas slowly instead of stomping on it, he wouldn't have had a problem. But that was funny for me to watch.
So Glen and I have had a good chuckle at the expense of all the Campbell Riverites. And we've gotten a taste of home at the same time. Now if only it would go away so I can go jogging again...
