We remember well visiting friends in London, England years ago. It was early February. An ivnitation came to come up and see friends in Northampton, which seemed like a great idea.
Except that it was snowing. First of all, the concierge at the hotel advised us that we would not be able to make it even as far as the Train Station.
Unequipped with a map or GPS, we were in no position to argue, but we were Canadian, and made of stern stuff. Besides, there was less than an inch of snow on the sidewalk. Grumpily muttering about Colonials, he called a Taxi. The driver whereof explained in great detail that the roads were so bad he didn't know if he would be able to get us to our destination. In the middle of his "godawful roads, national crisis, unprecedented snowfall' diatribe, I offered to drive.
As it unfolded, we discovered the dang station was only two blocks from the hotel. We could have easily walked it, on the mostly deserted streets (all inside, hunkered down waiting for Apocolypse). We boarded the train. Departure time came. And went. And went a little farther along.
Finally the plummy voice on the p.a. announced that the tracks were frozen, trains were shorted out, and there would be as short delay. Enough time passed to read all of War and Peace, in the original. For plum trees to bloom in the spring. At least, it felt like that. In reality it was only a few hours.
When the voice came back on, it announced that Thanks to God and British Rail, transit could be resumed. I'd prefer to leave God out of that, since I'm fairly confident it was Brit Rail that designed tracks and trains that could be shut down by an inch of snow, without any input from any Diety.
When we arrived at Northampton, we were greeted by ther cheery news that the Gritters were out, so there was a fighting chance we could get where we needed to go. Britain, with tiny, narrow roads and congested cities, suffers from that over-arching issue of having no-where to put snow, so any snowfall can be of consequence.
Here, Brian has a solid grasp on the need to have places to put the snow. Ways to move it off the travelled areas, and leave room for the ploughs to work. One of the weapons in his arsenal of snow moving equipment is the snowblower, pictured here.
Rural Ontario, particularly up here in the Northern regions, has a firm grasp on this principal as well. Weather conditions that cause mayhem in the cities to the South often pass with barely a mention. There is a Lake Effect in Ontario that can blast snow in blizzard conditions across the Province near Barrie, so that is a notoriously tricky bit of highway in winter -- but once north of that, driving conditions tend to be pretty darn good.
Except that we are still working on convincing folks that having 4 wheel drive is not a license to drive at speed on winter roads. 4-wheel drive may help you claw your way back OUT of the ditch -- it will do nothing at all to prevent you sliding off INTO it. Winter tires, driving within the limitations of the conditions, allowing more time... these are your best friends in winter.
