Do You Wanna Build A Snowman?

In the aftermath of Wednesday’s blizzard, as we were outside shoveling/playing, I joked that we should persuade the city to use our driveway as the bus stop (actually situated about 10 feet to the side of our driveway). That way, the city would have to come clear our snow away. The 10-foot wide, 15-foot long, 4-foot deep snowdrift blocking our way to the street. The city has to clear the equivalent amount of snow away from the bus stop anyway, so what’s the difference? It would be a win-win situation.

Apparently not. Because the snow has still not been cleared away and our driveway that we Matt cleared is the bus stop! Hello city tax reduction?! Of course we don’t mind, the city is working hard to clear away the impossible amounts of snow. We’re lucky, some people’s streets still haven’t been plowed and ours, a fairly main route, was pretty much clear the day of the storm. But the sidewalks in our neighbourhood haven’t been touched, apart from the older man who spent all this morning working at clearing them by shovel. I wished I could have offered a hand, but I did keep a careful eye on him through the window in fear he’d have a heart attack.

And there’ve been plenty of other acts of kindness.

I was on Facetime with my sister in Sackville on the storm day and an ambulance appeared at the top of her road. People were literally shoveling around the ambulance so it could make its way to her neighbour’s house. A man with a snow blower helped it back up the road again.

As Matt was clearing the bus stop driveway, neighbours from a street over stopped by to help and the job was done much faster. Neighbours are snow blowing my parents driveway while they ride out the end of winter in Florida.

I’ve seen a lot of complaints on social media about the poor job the city has done handling the (copious) amounts of snow this year and that the responsibility of clearing sidewalks should shift back to residents (no please no no no we have so much sidewalk….). But how about stop the complaining, grab a shovel and help out. Just because it’s not our responsibility doesn’t mean we can’t help work on it anyway.

There’s nothing like a major weather event to get neighbours out in the fresh air, face-to-face and getting some exercise. Maritimers love talking about the weather so the camaraderie in the neighbourhood is high. Every passerby has a witty comment to share. Of course you know, I’d rather it be SPRING that brings out the best but regardless, I love seeing people rallying together, lending a hand and getting things done.

So this weekend, help a neighbour out. Clear a patch of sidewalk. Play in the snow. Embrace winter (oh crap. It’s officially spring.). We built an awesome slide in the snow bank for Bear and she used it for nearly an hour. Embrace the snow and enjoy it while it lasts and let me know how it goes.

Unless you’re on vacation somewhere warm this March break. In that case, I don’t want to hear about your sun, your sand or your pina coladas. I hope there’s sand IN your pina colada. Just kidding. Kind of.