It was a long weekend in this province and of course, I got sick late Sunday night with symptoms of a cold. I spent the extra day of the weekend with congested sinuses and a cough. I wasn’t even able to sleep in, since I was so plugged up, it was difficult to stay asleep. I managed to fall back asleep after I propped myself up on some pillows and was upright.
I spent most of the day just cleaning and drinking tea. Now, the work week begins anew and I’m still feeling terrible!
At around 4pm this afternoon, it began to snow again. It was a very light snow at first but half an hour later, it started to come down heavy, with big wet flakes of snow. People at work started to leave in great numbers when that happened.
I stuck around until 5pm before leaving. My bus needs to go up a hill and I was afraid if I waited too long, the new snow would make that hill too treacherous to pass. I wasn’t the only one to think that. When I got to the bus stop, I had to watch five full buses pass me by before there was one with enough space to even stop at my stop.
It was smooth sailing after that but it continued to snow until around 9pm, at which point it turned into rain. The temperature is now above zero and it seems like it’ll stay there overnight. The rains have not subsided, so I imagine I’ll wake up to a slushy mess tomorrow. At least, I’ll be able to get to work though.
I made it to work this morning. The commute was relatively normal but when I walked the five minutes it took to get from the bus stop to the studio, I knew my journey home was going to be an adventure.
Some parts of the sidewalk had been shoveled but not enough that you could make solid contact with the concrete below. It was a combination of slush and a thin layer of hard packed snow. Walking up the street was reasonable but I knew that the slush had all day to freeze up into ice.
On the way home, I reversed my trek and it was treacherous. Sheets of frozen ice covered parts of the sidewalk. It was actually safer to walk on the snow located to the side of the sidewalk because the snow offered more traction. In some areas, there was no snow to go and I had no choice but to risk it on the icy sidewalk it self. I nearly slipped and fell twice. I made a conscious choice to slide across large patches of ice because that felt safer that trying to walk it.
This happens every single year it snows. The municipality never clears the snow properly from the sidewalk and I think it’s pretty dangerous. I overheard one of my coworkers say that she wants to bring a plastic sled with her to work so she can just sled down the sidewalk to the bus stop instead of trying to navigate it on foot. That’s a great and fun idea!
I’ve been working from home for two days now because of the snow. On this second day, I might have been able to get to work. Since so many schools were cancelled, the roads and public transit were apparently very lightly used in the morning. Also, many people decided to just stay home instead of attempting to get to work. Getting home today, however, probably would have been a challenge. It began to snow heavily again in the late afternoon. What were clear roads earlier in the day became covered in snow again in about an hour. One of my coworkers reported that along the road where my bus runs, there were stalled buses and cars that had smashed into curb.
The forecast calls for just a small amount of snow tonight to fall. I’m going to try my best to get to work tomorrow. I think it’ll be possible to get to work in a reasonable and safe manner. Wish me luck!
Well, I did not make it to work today. It would have been a hellish commute. I was lucky to work from home today. I may work from home again tomorrow.
This morning when I woke up I saw that no snow had fallen overnight. Despite weather warnings for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, no appreciable amount of snow had fallen in any of those days. How wrong those forecasts were I thought!
I had to drive to get some lunch and as luck would have it as soon as I got downstairs to my car, I saw the first few flakes of snow falling from the sky. It was as if nature heard my mocking and now wanted to show me the snow. I didn’t really think it was going to amount to anything however. The flakes coming down were small, light, and weren’t sticking to the ground. As I drove the ten minutes to lunch, my unease began to grow slightly as the snow picked up a bit.
At the restaurant, I had a clear view of the street during lunch and the intensity of the snow ramped up considerably while I ate. The flakes were now huge, in great numbers, and the snow stuck to the ground. It was a bonafide snow storm. I wasted no time in finishing my meal, paying, and getting the hell of out there. Others must have had the same idea because there was quite a line to pay.
Once outside, I saw a sizeable blanket of snow on my windshield. It had accumulated in less than an hour. My wipers were barely able to remove the snow and I really should have used a brush but I wanted to get out of there quick! By now the roads were getting bad by the minute. At a few intersections, I could feel my car sliding a tiny bit. I breathed a sigh of relief once I was able to get my car back into the parking garage.
I spent the next several hours watching the snow continuously come down and just cover the entire city in a thick layer of white. I cancelled a dinner with my parents because it was so cold and roads were terrible. I’m not sure if it’ll be a snow day tomorrow but it’s definitely a non-zero chance.
Well, there’s not much to report. It’s after midnight and no snow has fallen. It could happen as I sleep but I bet nothing will be on the ground when I wake up.
The forecast last week called for snow but all we got were some pitiful flakes that barely changed the ground to some spots of white here and there. The forecast again calls for snow starting Thursday evening, through to Friday, with accumulations of several centimeters. Will the forecast be more correct this time and if so, will we get a snow day on Friday? I can’t wait to see!
For the first time since last winter, the relative humidity in my apartment dropped to the 30% range last night. This was sparked by the sudden drop in temperatures, as it got as chilly as -7 degrees Celsius where I live. The colder temperatures can’t hold as much moisture so it got real dry, really quickly. I could feel my skin drying up.
I had to bring out the humidifier out, the first time in almost a year. I set the relative humidity target for 45% and I ran it all night while I slept. My skin still feels kinda dry but the humidifier sure helps. I don’t know how people in colder areas can function without one of these things. How does your skin just not crack when it’s like -25 out in like Calgary or Ottawa?
I’m fascinated by the dollar stores in the United States because they seem to offer items that are unavailable here in Canada. That fact, however, might be a good thing since some of these items appear to be terrible and bad for consumers.
I’m particularly fascinated by some of the food items that are offered in U.S. dollar stores, the ones that require refrigeration and freezers. I’ve previously seen videos on paper thin “steaks” that are sold for about a dollar. Now, it seems like you can get “ground beef” for about the same price.
In the video above, someone bought two packages of this “ground beef” and documented the cooking and taste test. You can probably guess the results but it’s amazing to see what you can actually get for a dollar in terms of meat.