There definitely was snow in the forecast for overnight and into the morning, but two things…#1. It was supposed to happen earlier but the system apparently slowed down and #2. Pretty sure that 10+cm wasn’t int he forecast when I last checked.
I woke up around 4:30am and, even in the dark, could see big fat flakes contrasted against the dark flashing on the outside wall…and I thought…”Well that’s not good” and fell back asleep. We were definitely a bit surprised when we finally got up and were a bit dismayed because we still had to drive downtown, regardless of the weather.
I was supposed to have a face to face meeting with my manager, he was driving down to Nanaimo from Cumberland to take a float plane over to spend the bulk of the day with me to try and figure out how to manage the workload pressures I’m trying to cope with. As we drove over the Lion’s Gate Bridge that clearly wasn’t in the cards. He did try…he drove down to Nanaimo but there were no flights both because the visibility was nil, but also because all of the planes were still over in Vancouver as they couldn’t get any back over to the Island last night apparently. And then we couldn’t have a virtual meeting in the end either, because his wife’s car had a flat and he had to drive back up the Island to help her and change a tire in the snow.
We also were heading to pick up Gizmo from the vet today, at 3pm, so getting downtown meant that we were at least halfway there already.
On the way down Capilano road we were behind a Tesla that couldn’t decide which lane to be in so was driving with one set of wheels in each lane for white a ways. The driver was also crawling along at a snail’s pace. There is a balance….don’t drive like a speed loving moron in the snow in the city….but if you are going to drive at a pace that people can pass you while walking…well…maybe you shouldn’t be driving. Despite our annoyance, we were glad to have not passed them because a block later a massive snow laden branch gave way and crashed to the road a couple of feet off their front bumper. If we’d passed them we probably would have had that land on us.
We thought we were doing great, until we rounded the corner on Marine Drive and came to a grinding halt. The bridge traffic was at a virtual standstill….but moving…barely. A few vehicles ahead, a small white car was spinning with every forward movement…great, just what you want in front of you heading up an icy bridge.
The thing that kept us truly entertained during the rest of the drive, was the guy on the radio. AM730 is an all traffic radio station and he was having a field day with the reports. “Richmond is flat as a pancake, the only hill in Richmond is the on-ramp to the highway….and no cars are making it up…traffic is at a standstill…” and so on. He was hilarious as he relayed the chaos around the Lower Mainland.
It took about an hour to get from Capilano and Marine to the office downtime…a distance that typically takes about 8-10 minutes. But we made it. Despite icy roads, stalled busses, stalled cars, falling branches, and crawling traffic.
And, wildly, by 3pm, the sun was out and the snow was meting away quickly.
So Gizmo is home, with one hell of a cocktail of five different drugs delivered twice a day, one every 8 hours, and another twice a week. Some of those taper off, but we will be moving ahead with at least five drugs twice a day for the foreseeable future after a month passes, and assuming he stays stable.
Going to have to figure out a way to stick handle work schedules for awhile, probably go in a little bit later, come home a little bit earlier, and work a bit in the evenings to make up the difference.
And overnight trips are off the table for a bit.
But he seems happy to be home, and that’s a good thing.
