As children, was a weekly event on a Saturday afternoon. On a Saturday evening, as teen-agers,from miles and miles around. On any other night except Saturday as older adults.
A program would have a news reel, a cartoon, a b movie(cowboy or Three Stooges or Laurel and Hardie) a spooky serial, (The Invisible Man, The Clutching Hand or Flash Gordon)
I remember on Pathe News , a ship on fire in Montreal Harbour. Firefighters with hoses.spraying the burning ship into a solid block of ice.
At the beginning of the war, a cousin came to Canada from Scotland to train to be a pilot.Snapshots were sent home and passed around of him in flying gear,down on one knee and snow up to his shoulders. Such a sight.... we never saw before. It was hardly believable.
My son Frank lives in Hockley Valley. We visited him Sunday before last. It was a beautiful drive.The sun was shining, sky was blue and the snow was crisp and white and even.
Yesterday we awoke to a world of silence.Three or four inches of snow clinging to upright branches. Evergreens were spectacular. On Sunday evening, the sidewalk plow rumbled down the pathway between Knowles and Holman Crescent, around seven in the evening.
I haven't heard complaints about snow plowing for years. When we didn't have sidewalk plows, sidewalks didn't get plowed.We didn't have sidewalks on subdivision streets . So even when the town got sidewalk plows, my neighbours didn't complain about paying but not getting sidewalks plowed.
The plowing pattern has always been the same. Through streets needed to be cleared for possible emergencies first.Side streets came next in order of priority.Traffic pattern determines priority.Somebody has to make the decision.
The same way the Gulf Stream makes the U.K. habitable, salt makes Southern Ontario Habitable. Snow doesn't get plowed in Leksand,Sweden. People walk on hard-packed ice.The atmosphere in Sweden freezes white.They have little cutters with blades
which they push ahead, get up speed and jump on the runners for a ride.
People don't complain.What's the point.The thing about snow, it falls all over town at the same time, to the same depth but not all of the time.
If we had enough sidewalk and street plows to plow everything clear at the same time,most of the winter and all the rest of the year, we would have a huge fleet of dozens of sidewalk and street plows sitting in a works yard in full view, rusting out as we watch.
It would be like water reservoirs. If we had sufficient reservoirs, to supply enough to water expensively landscaped yards during an occasional heat wave,we would pay out millions in operating costs. And treatment costs to ensure water would be absolutely safe to drink and pour it by the millions of gallons on to the earth to keep grass green and flowers perky.
It's truly amazing how well younger generations understand the marvels of technology and the marvels that can be accompished but commensurately less about the vagaries of our climate and what it takes to live in it.
I believe that VIVA buses run a "through" street so there should be no excuse for sidewalks at bus stops not being clear and safe for those who use mobility devices. A write noted a person with a walker having difficulty recently. That is a question of accessibility and safety for the residents of the town.
ReplyDeleteEvelyn, I was surprised by your somewhat antiquated view on this. This smacks of the old “we had to walk uphill in the snow barefoot” stories.
ReplyDeleteCertainly there was a time when roads and sidewalks weren’t ploughed at all, but that was also a time when anyone with a physical disability was not legally entitled to have access to the same amenities as the fully-abled did. It was also a time when few women worked full-time and fewer people commuted on a daily basis. The environment wasn’t a concern. Governments did not promote “green” practices such as taking transit. Single-occupant vehicles were king; transit was lower class.
You talk about the “younger generation”, but do you actually know how old the A.C. posters are? Do you know how old I am? You might be surprised.
I would challenge you to walk and take transit to get around town for two weeks in the midst of winter --- working hours, morning and afternoon, every single weekday --- before passing judgment on the complaints of others.
Neither can we assume that those towns with more efficient snow removal are in possession of more equipment “rusting out” through the remaining months of the year. Perhaps they use their resources more efficiently. Perhaps they have discovered techniques we haven’t. Some places, for example, are using beet juice to pre-treat the winter roads. It bonds better with the pavement and keeps now and ice from sticking. Who knows what other new developments there are in the industry?
It’s truly amazing how well an open-minded, young-thinking individual such as you can understand the marvels of technology but commensurately less about how other people solve problems today’s world.
After the first big snowfall eleven years ago when we first moved to Aurora from Toronto, I worked for more than an hour clearing the sidewalk in front of our house and our neighbours' house. (This was required of homeowners in Toronto). When it was all done, and with great satisfaction, I settled into my favourite chair, only to hear a distant rumble - what could that be? Why, it was a sidewalk plow! I thought we had moved to Heaven!
ReplyDeleteOnce again you hit it right on the head , no one can argue on the inconveniences that winter brings to this country for 5 months of the year, but to make the assumption that this town needs to "discover other techniques" that we haven’t is an insult to the service providers in this Town, after living here for more than 50 years the service has done nothing but improve.
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