The walk to work this morning was a bit of a slog. The City seems to have an uneven approach to sidewalk snow clearing. Not only were some sidewalks not cleared, but the snow from the street appeared to have been plowed onto the sidewalks.
This was the sidewalk on Carling Avenue just east of the Royal Ottawa Hospital this morning. The sidewalk on the other side of the street was equally unusable. Pedestrians had no choice but to walk on the street, which is a high-traffic, multi-lane artery. I don’t know how far these conditions extended, because I got the hell off Carling as soon as I could.
The Parkdale Street sidewalks appeared not to have been cleared either, but at least other snow wasn’t plowed onto them. Some of the little streets in the Civic Hospital neighbourhood appeared to have been treated very well by the City’s snow-removal teams. (You don’t think it’s because it’s kind of an upscale neighbourhood, do you?)
Then I got to Somerset. It was really patchy. From Parkdale to the bridge over the O-Train tracks was pretty good. The stretch between the bridge and Booth Street was bad, and not helped by the fact it was mostly uphill.
It was very nice, as always, right outside the Kelly Funeral Home. They always clear all their snow, not just off the sidewalk but off the street as well. When you’re wading through unplowed snow, it’s always a relief to get to the funeral home and have 30 feet or so of clear sidewalk.
The last time I wrote about the Kelly Funeral Home was in September 2006. Just a couple of days ago I received my first nasty comment on this blog, and it was with reference to that post. I guess I just don’t normally spark much controversy or push anybody’s buttons. But it seems I’ve finally inspired someone to say he hoped I would rot in hell. Apparently John doesn’t take kindly to people disrespecting funeral home staff, and he sees humour as disrespectful.
Years ago I did a work placement in a funeral home because I was thinking about, you know, pursuing a career in the embalming arts.
While I chose not to join their ranks, I was impressed by how funny morticians and other funeral industry types can be. They kept me in stitches for days. I was also struck by how automatically they switched between the two sides of their personality as they moved between the public and private areas of the funeral home. One moment they’d be laughing and cracking jokes, and literally the next moment they’d have that somber and respectful funeral home demeanor, just by stepping through the doorway between the two areas.
So I have reason to believe funeral home staff have a sense of humour, even if Rot-In-Hell John doesn’t.
Now, about the goat. My esteemed blogging colleague, David Scrimshaw, left a comment with a link to the most incredible goat today. I have fallen in love with this goat.
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I am coveting the goat too. Wonderous goat.
me want
Richmond Road was in the same state as Carling i.e. snow plowed onto the sidewalks — higher at the bus stops where the plow could swoop in and create a little more space for the car traffic. Waiting 55 minutes for a bus at rush hour did not improve my mood either.
The goat, however, cheered me up.
Grace, I heard it was treacherous trying to get off some buses – people were tumbling off snowbanks and into the roadways! Waiting for buses is one of my least-favourite activities. Especially waiting for late buses on cold days.
But I’m happy everybody loves the goat. I feel like sticking her up at the top of the page with the sheep. 😉
Wolfville is a pedestrian’s dream town. The sidewalks were done after ALL the snow removal from the streets and they actually take the time to do intersections properly. Then they salt and sald the sidewalks. Its amazing. I was assuming we’d have to clear our own section of sidewalk (being on a residential street with no businesses or heavy foot traffic), but nope, it was done for us!
Oh and I must make myself a life sized felted goat! I have a raw Jacob fleece waiting to be used this winter (still stinky) its all in black and white, should be the right amount of fleece I think!
No no Dirtwitch, you must make ME a felted goat! She doesn’t need to be life-sized if that’s asking too much. Mine could be the small scale practice model before you make your life-size one.
That goat is remarkably lifelike.
I thought about walking with a push shovel last night. Some of those steep snow banks only have a crack to squeeze thru to cross the street.
I will make you a goat, the teats are going to be hard on a small goat though, I warn you now.
That’s a sentence you don’t hear very often. 😉