Tuesday 1 February 2011

Winter is here!!

Last weekend some friends of mine decided we should go to the brunch buffet on Sunday.  When we woke and looked out the window that morning, the wind was screaming and the snow was falling.  There was some question of whether we should just cancel, but since they all turned to me for whether it was still a good idea to go out... I figured why not?  As long as the restaurant was still open!  It was a great meal!
By the time we were finished, around 1pm, the taxis had been pulled off the roads.  (Here, the taxis only go off the roads if the visibility is too poor to safely drive.  And that generally means you can't see across the street.)  So we sat there joking about how many meals we could squeeze out of this buffet brunch before they kicked us out, and wondering if we should just go to the movies that afternoon (the theatre is in the same complex).  Since one of the girls had driven the rest of us, and she felt fairly confident to try driving us all home, we decided to chance it.  We didn't get very far before having to wait for the windows to defrost.  Once that was done, we were fine so long as we went slow.
(This is a picture out my window near the end of the blizzard, when there was a layer of snow against my window everywhere but the edges.  You can see the storage units across the street, which tells you the storm has already let up a bit.)

That storm was bad enough that upper management decided at noon (while we were sitting and dining) that the nursing staff doing a day that day would be staying for 24hours.(until 7am the following day)  Personally, I don't understand that decision, since there were a number of times people could have gone home... but I'm not management.  I on the other hand was quite happily holed up in my apartment, with half a dozen candles burning, "just in case!"  The power luckily stayed on... while I cooked a big pot of turkey broth.
The next day, as I happily turned the broth into soup, the neighbor came knocking at my door wondering if my heat was working.  I was toasty warm working over my hot stove, so I checked my hot water (the two are connected, the hot water heats the building).  Sure enough, no heat.  So the neighbor, wrapped in a big cozy blanket and shivering away, went home to call maintenance.  I also had no cable or internet... but at least the phone was working!
Since then, the temperature has stayed below -20C, slowing sinking towards -30C.  Then yesterday, the wind kicked up its heals and blasted through town, bringing the windchill to a frost -59C!  Happily, I had no where to be so I curled up inside and made tea.
Looks like it'll be a cold winter after all.

1 comment:

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

I sent all that cold weather special for you! I was done with it. heheh