First off, I wish to apologize to the rest of Canada for all the whining you have had to endure from Victoria’s brief flirt with Winter over this past week. We are ill equipped to deal with the deluge and most of us have moved here because it is as close to California as we can get without having to expatriate ourselves. Sorry too, for all postings of early blooms and Snow Drops that flooded social media back in January. I am guilty of sending a FB cyber raspberry out to the rest of Canada when I posted this beauty on January 28, 2019.
No need for any payback, truly. Karma has now effectively kicked our asses to the curb as we shake the white stuff off and start digging our way out of the mess.
For myself, it was an interesting week of trying to remain at peace with “what is”. Driving in snow is something that ramps up my anxiety levels and since moving to Victoria, I felt safe for the first time, to give up my all wheel drive dependancy for a more citified front wheel drive. My choice of all season radial tires was also a declaration to the Malahat gods, that in the event of even one tiny snow flake, there is nothing North of Langford that needs me all that bad. I do however, still have to get to work.
Langford is the line in the snow that is drawn by default, as this is the territory where a single occupancy dweller can affordably call home. Housing costs in the Greater Victoria continue to push the work force to seek housing in the more affordable markets of the Western Shore and beyond. What is commonly referred to as the “Colwood crawl” now begins at the Leigh Road Interchange. The insanity begins before most city folk are silently hitting their snooze buttons and up until recently, I was blissfully able to avoid it.
I once asked my son how he liked his new job. His reply was that the job itself was great, but he resented the fact that he needed one. I wholeheartedly concur. I woke up early Monday morning to about 5cm of snow and headlines of more coming. My anxiety levels started sparring with my “surrender to what is” practice and anxiety was winning. With schools calling it a snow day, I will give a shout out to my employer, Boys and Girls Club of Greater Victoria as they followed suit. Snow Day! Whew! I was certain that by Tuesday all this beauty would be gone so I went on a walk about to capture it.
By Tuesday, I realized that my prediction was invalid. There was over a foot of snow on my deck and another official snow day declaration from work. Unprecedented but appreciated. As the snow eased off, the sounds of shovels and snow blowers accompanied me on another walk about.
The Wednesday morning weather forecast looked more favourable and while the schools took another snow day, the official work plan was to try to get back to normal – with a few modifications. A few centimeters of snow had fallen overnight and the roads in my neighbourhood were still pretty ugly. The weather forecast was just as confused as the rest of us and could not quite settle on an official end to the madness. Thankfully my manager acknowledged my discomfort and allowed me to work from the peace and sanctity of my home computer. After work, I tried for yet another walk about, but found walking more treacherous than driving. There was nowhere I really needed to be, so I retreated.
Thursday came and even though the forecast was for another big dump during the rush hour home, there was no more hiding out. I put on my big girl boots, 2 jackets, a scarf, gloves, and threw in a bunch of necessities into a backpack should I get stuck in town. After scraping the thick sheet of ice off my windshield, for the first time in a week, I set out to brave the crawl. Apart from the icy conditions, the commute to Esquimalt was uneventful. Travelling at the speed of a snail, does give one time to look around and ponder. The great majority of the vehicles on the road at this time are single occupancy and some of these people actually believe that by taking the Helmken off ramp approach they are actually getting nowhere faster! Guess what? You don’t.
It was hard to relax at work; my eye was on the sky and the weather forecast spun like the lemons on a slot machine. Thankfully the snow held off until quitting time and I was then on the road like a horse heading back to the barn. While there is nothing more frustrating than being caught in the Esquimalt crawl, I was happy it was Thursday and I had a long weekend ahead of me. As the flakes begin falling, anxiety took off the gloves and started trying to land a punch; however, I was able to use all my mental ninja moves and avoid getting hit. Hell had already frozen over and I knew I could make it home safe and sound.
Is there a lesson here? A moral? A point to the story? Not really. I know that the rest of Canada thinks we are wusses for our inability to cope with a smattering of what they put up with for the greater part of the winter months. I will admit that for a tiny window there in February, we were smug and overconfident that we had outsmarted winter; clearly we were as wrong as the groundhog that did not see his shadow. And yes, for those of us who are snowphobic, the struggle is real…
anewthreshold.org 