This post is a tad later than was supposed to be...the ME has caught up with me this past week and is doing its usual January not-let-me-do-much-other-than-feel-sick thing...
The task - the first time of many over the next couple of months I assume - was such a novelty, I felt I just had to write about it!
The task - the first time of many over the next couple of months I assume - was such a novelty, I felt I just had to write about it!
It would be somewhat of an understatement to say there was a fair amount of snow lying around after the storm. The 45cm that fell in 24 hours had smashed a record that had lain untouched since 1971. (We were hoping for snow when we came to Montreal, so it was nice of it to do it properly…).
That amount of snow does not disappear overnight!
The city was methodically clearing the roads and pavements, but T and I are responsible for the patch of land outside the front of the building, as well as the area at the back where the car is parked.
We successfully managed to put it off for a couple of days, but the time finally came to do our bit of clearing.
The car and surrounding area was first, but where to start on this giant snowball??
That amount of snow does not disappear overnight!
The city was methodically clearing the roads and pavements, but T and I are responsible for the patch of land outside the front of the building, as well as the area at the back where the car is parked.
We successfully managed to put it off for a couple of days, but the time finally came to do our bit of clearing.
The car and surrounding area was first, but where to start on this giant snowball??
The car was surrounded by knee-deep snow.
We only had one shovel; our other bit of kit was a dustpan without the brush. We needed to get the car out for us to be able to buy another shovel. So was a bit of a catch-22 situation. But taking it in turns with the proper bit of kit and the bit of joke kit, we gradually unearthed the car from its white cocoon. It was quite an undertaking, and we were soon both pretty warm which, considering the temperature was minus 17 degrees with the windchill, is a sign we were doing some serious work!
Once we had cleared enough to be able to actually move the car, we parked it further up the alley and set to cleaning the space it had left.
Once we had cleared enough to be able to actually move the car, we parked it further up the alley and set to cleaning the space it had left.
Despite both of us working non-stop, it took us two and a quarter hours to dig the car out and clear the front path and steps. Although, during this time there were a couple of disruptions: T went to rescue a neighbour whose car was stuck in the snow; and I got distracted by a neighbouring cat...
No sooner had we put the last of the salt on the path, then it started to snow again…