Remember back on Dec. 17, when I wrote at length about how snow storms are good for the soul, that they bring together neighbours and make friends of strangers.
I'm not exactly retracting that statement, because on Dec. 17 it was true, but now, on Feb. 7, after three snow storms in a week, my soul is reacting with less excitment.
After scraping my car out of an igloo this morning, I tried to pull out of my parking spot, which, because I'm in Toronto, was on the street. Unfortunately, I had been plowed in on the street side and the sidewalk side, and both ends of my car were stuck in snow banks. When I tried to pull out, my wheels spun, getting no grip whatsoever.
Fortunately, a neighbour was clearing off his car, and he took a break from doing so to push me out. But then he tried to move his car, and it was also stuck. So, after 15 minutes of shovelling and rocking his car back and forth, we finally got it out. It put me about 30 minutes behind schedule, and, unlike the December storm, it made us both nothing but angry.
We were not touched by our neighbourly helpfulness. It is, by storm number 264, expected. Now, we're just angry that there was a storm in the first place.
My flight out of this deep freeze on Feb. 25 cannot come early enough.