Snow Memories

Snow? In Victoria? It was rare -- so much so that a 'heavy frost' used to get credit for being "snow" and caused school closures!

I don't remember any "snow" fun on Chaucer Street -- but I remember waking up to the odd snowfall on Haultain -- and Mum was always good about letting us drop whatever was supposed to happen that morning and get into our snow gear (after we dug it out of one of those big drawers in the basement), so that we could dash out and take advantage of the snow before it disappeared...

I remember rolling snowballs make a snowman with and
a) one pass across the ground and it would pick up ALL the snow and leave a trail of only grass behind (much of the grass also embedded in the snowball)
b) by the time we had rolled snowballs big enough to make a meager snowman, we had essentially picked up ALL the snow from the entire yard (and we had a big yard on Haultain)!

I remember not liking family snowfights because it seemed like John, Jim, and Jill were all just targeting me.

Snow in Victoria was very 'crunchy' sounding when you walked on it or rolled your snowball along the ground, and snowballs were hard and stung when they hit you - nothing like the quiet, fluffy stuff we are graced with in Utah!

When I was older, I had moved to Burnaby (a suburb of Vancouver) and was living in a house with a bunch of roommates that I didn't know very well. I guess Vancouver gets a little more snow (when it happens) than Victoria, because there was a day that I woke up to around 4 inches! I guess since it was customary for me to dash out and do something with the rare stuff, I got dressed warmly and went out side, all by myself, at 20 years old, and built a snowman. I took the time to build a pretty big one, (perhaps subconsciously because it might be a long time before this much snow presents itself for snowman building again?) I decorated him properly, right down to the carrot nose and raisin eyes, loaned him my scarf, and took his picture. I went inside to put my camera away, and packed my school bag, and had only left him unattended for about 20 minutes -- but when I came out of the house to head to class -- he was GONE!!! Completely vanished except for his accouterments which were laying on the ground. I stood, perplexed for a few moments, but I had to get to school, so I shrugged and started trudging down the street to the bus stop, while I pondered what on earth had happened to my snowman. About half way down the street, I caught up with 3 kids, none older than age 7, and they were each rolling a sizeable snowball down the sidewalk. Now it was clear! I yelled "Hey!! You stole my snowman!!!", expecting them to either abandon my snowballs and run away, or at least act sheepishly about it -- but the kids just laughed at me and yelled back "Too bad you loser!" I yelled back again "It's more fun to make your own!" and spent the rest of my day wondering what the world is coming to....

Same storm in Burnaby, different story (it was an eventful day). By the time I got home from school, it was snowing again, but there had been just enough melting before sundown to make it so that the new snow was landing on top of a slurry of ice and slush -- so traffic was a DISASTER. But I had a job interview at 6pm (for the position of Emergency Road Service Operator for AAA). I had planned to take the bus even though the location was only about 2 miles from my house (normally I would ride my bike). But after waiting at the bus stop for 20 minutes past the scheduled time, I realized that the buses probably weren't equipped to get through this snow, and I would have to walk. For some reason (could it be the reliability and work ethic my mother instilled in me?) it never even occurred to me to call and cancel the interview. So I slogged through close to 10 inches of snow and slush for 2 miles and finally arrived at the AAA call center building -- over an hour late for my interview appointment. I was sopping wet and icy cold to the core. I told the receptionist "Hi, I'm here for a job interview with Keith ***** (can't remember his last name), and I'm late because the buses weren't running." I hung up my wet outerwear and sat down in the lobby. A few minutes later, the manager came out, took one look at me, and exclaimed "Did you walk all the way here in this storm for this job interview!?" I said "Well, we had an appointment", as I handed him my slightly damp resume. He took it, glanced at it for a moment, then extended his hand to shake mine and said "The job is yours. Anyone who would walk all this way in the worst snowstorm we've seen in 20 years just to keep a job interview appointment, I know I can count on to do a good job!" Then he took me into his office and gave me some hot chocolate, told me to dry off and warm up for a bit, and said that he had to get back out onto the floor because (as you could imagine) the Emergency Road Service call volume was VERY high with all the problems caused by the bad weather. Oh - and he ORDERED me NOT to walk home again and said "as soon as we have a driver going your direction, I'll have them give you a lift!"