Friday, January 07, 2005

At least we didn't call in the army


Chaos on the corner of 4th and Alma, near my office yesterday

It’s snowing in Vancouver. In any other part of the country, this would be considered a light dusting. But out here, it's a howling blizzard.

Schools have shut down. Buses are delayed. Drivers are freaking out. It’s kind of amusing, actually.

On CBC’s The National last night (yes, this made the national news), there was footage of cars sliding down icy Vancouver streets and crashing into other cars. Over and over again. Great, now the whole country knows what complete idiots we are.

Local news outlets are describing Vancouver’s “cold snap” in tones that should be reserved for serious news, like the tsunami. Um…sorry, but in the rest of Canada, zero degrees in January is considered balmy.

At least we haven’t called in the army like Toronto did in 1999. I was living in New Brunswick at the time. People there could not stop talking (“talking” meaning “laughing hysterically”) about what a pathetic lot of urban wimpsters people in Toronto were.

But Vancouverites will always get the last laugh. After all, we spend most of February calling friends and family in Ontario to gloat about our glorious climate.

“Hi mom. What’s that? It’s minus 20 in Toronto, you say? Well, it’s sunny and 10 degrees in Vancouver and the cherry trees are blossoming! Ha! Suckers!!!!” Click.

2 comments:

Sarah Marchildon said...

Hey Brian and Natalie,

Nice to see your blog, "A Newfoundlander's view on the world." I'll be checking in often! Still the best damn province in the country, in my opinion! And I've seem 'em all.

As for the snow, I counted 25 snowmen (yes, I counted) during my 25-minute walk from my apartment to swim practice. People were having snowball fights and taking pictures and sliding down hills on plastic bags. It put a huge smile on my face :)

-- Sarah

Anonymous said...

do you think this vancouver snow storm is the reason why my flight has been delayed for 7 hours? i wish i was in vancouver playing in the snow instead of waiting for my flight. seriously, the west coast will be the next stop on my travels! from eveything you've described it sounds great!