Winter's here...

Yup. In spite of the calendar, winter is most definitely here. While not the first snowfall/storm of the season, Saturday night/Sunday is currently winning for least pleasant.

The adventure started thusly:

On Wednesday, I contacted a friend of some 21 years (21 years!! Yikes! How'd that happen? Now I feel old!) to ask about a mailing address for another friend of ours who I had sadly lost touch with (although he promised in my wedding guest book that he'd email ;) ). I knew this friend had moved, so in an effort to actually get Christmas cards out to people this year I thought I'd update the mailing list. Anyway, long story short(er), I discovered that he and his fiancée (and their assorted kids ;) ) were having a housewarming party on Saturday night. In Kitchener. Oddly, about 6 blocks from where D lived when I first met him. So, of course, I wanted to seize the opportunity to see C again, see his new place, meet his future wife, etc. etc. etc.

Then I heard the weather forecast. Saturday night was supposed to bring a storm after 2 days of rain. Hrm. So I didn't email C to let him know we'd be there... partly to surprise him... partly because I didn't know if we'd make it.

Saturday dawned and we started the mad scramble to get all the things we wanted to get done this weekend done. D was actually off this Saturday, so that was a nice change... gave us a bit more time to work with for the things that needed both of us. Off I went to do the usual singing thing at church (not sure how much longer I'll be doing that... they're really starting to irritate me)... then mad dash home to grab D, the housewarming gift, some emergency supplies (just in case... having been through the Ottawa Ice Storm in the winter of '97/'98, I figure better safe than frozen) and hit the road. We took my car... it's less "sporty", more comfortable, and I just feel safer in it in bad weather (no offence to D's car... it's the same kind I originally wanted to buy when I got Zippy, but I couldn't afford to insure it so... *shrug*). I had decided that Milton was going to be our 'drop dead' point. If we got to Milton before meeting the snow, we'd go the whole way... if the snow started at any point up to there, we'd turn around. Well, we actually made it all the way to Kitchener with no snow. Yay!!! We had also figured that, worst case, the in-laws are only a short way further out the road from there so we could over-night with them and try the trip home in the morning.

Anyway... much fun was had... it was great to see C again (and maybe this time we'll actually manage to keep in touch). A couple of rough moments for D and I... but that relates to certain other events in our lives recently and is entirely our own problem *shrug*.

At about 10:45 (give or take), P (the friend of 21 years) showed up and said the storm was coming. Actually, the snow had started. So D and I saddled up for the homeward trek, hoping to beat the worst of it.

Next time remind me of two things: D is much better at night driving, especially on stretches of highway with no street-lights; There's no point in trying to beat a storm home from KW.

Now, I'm a decent driver. While I've been known to be a bit of a speed demon at times, I don't take stupid risks (especially if there's someone else in the car), and I drive for the weather conditions. Sadly, I cannot say the same for others. It's a freakin' miracle that we didn't see anyone spin out or in a ditch on the way home. And I have to say, the worst were the truckers. Now, I know some truckers... great guys... helpful folks. But oh my gawd the truckers on Saturday night were psychotic and wrapped up in their own universe. If the speed of traffic is 80 at best because of road conditions, don't whip by in the fast lane (where they're not supposed to be in the first place) at 120 throwing snow all over everyone, blinding other drivers, and whipping cars around in your wake. It's just not cool. Frankly, I don't care if you have a deadline for your shipment... I just want to get home alive. Thankfully, once we got the hell off the 401 and on to the 407, there were practically no truckers. Of course, there WERE pseudo snowplows. And I say 'pseudo' because they were really only making the situation worse. There was no salt going down behind them, so the thin sheet of compressed snow and ice from where the heat of the friction of blade on road melted things was MORE dangerous than if they'd just left it well enough alone. But that's ok... most of them were on the other side of the higway anyway.

I think we lucked out. The normally hour-and-a-half drive took about two-and-a-quarter hours. Considering that for quite a large stretch at the beginning our speed never topped 60, that says a lot for road conditions closer to, and across T.O..

It was great seeing C again, meeting his new (well, new to us) family unit... now that he's closer to the in-laws, the chances of us visiting again increase significantly, too ;)

Then on Sunday, after the snow came the freezing rain. And after the freezing rain came the blackout. Yeah... several hours in the dark. Not fun. So we used our "über candle" for both light and warmth (it's a huge 3-wicked bee's wax thing... throws a fair amount of both light and heat), since the fan on the furnace is electric, and the fans on both gas fireplaces are electric. Luckily, we could at least make dinner, because the stove top is gas. And wouldn't you know it? As soon as I was done making dinner the power came back on (literally... I turned off the burner on the stove and the lights came on at almost the same moment). Well, at least we didn't have to ask my parents for a warm place to sleep (they're only 3 blocks away, but on the other side of a major road, and their part of the grid was still on).

And, as winter is quite comfy where she is, we're still dealing with snow, freezing rain, and my personal fave, really strong freakin' cold winds. Which brings me to my Question of the Day:

Why do people so often fail to consider the weather before choosing their footwear? I can't count the number of people I saw this morning with leather-soled (or otherwise traction-less) shoes. Slip slidin' away... slip slidin' awaaaaay... you know the nearer your destination, the more you're slip slidin' awaaay. ;)

Have a great one, folks! Still working on the St. Lucia experience post.