Icy Drives and Frozen Grocery Ads

I did make it to work this morning without too much snow-trouble. Granted, backing out of my drive was a little hairy. The snowplows had pushed snow from the road to my drive but after a scary moment when my wheels wouldn't move, a gentle but firm push to the accelerator got me over the hump.

The snowplow situation amuses me. I live on an emergency route- the fire station and police stations are just down the road and my street is their main drag to get around quickly. While they do keep my street cleared better than the side streets around us, I'm a little surprised that they don't get my street as clear as you'd expect. Of course, I also realized that there's a reason for this: Our 'snowplow' is a pick-up truck, embossed with the City logo with a little plow on the front. I'd say it was better than nothing but having observed the snow plow pushing a tiny amount of snow and not scraping the road at all, it does seem a little ineffective. Of course, it is effective enough that the plow pushes what little snow it does gather up and block our driveways with it. I can't help but think there might be better places to deposit it but since it keeps us residents active by shoveling, there's probably a point to it.

Anyway, once I made it out of my drive, I realized that the roads were more icy than snowy, something that worries me a little. Driving on snow isn't so bad as driving on ice-ridges which is what it was along the road that I take to get to work. I drove slowly. As I pulled out of my neighbourhood onto the main road, I saw something that caught my attention: I'd accidentally left the grocery-store ads that I'd picked up from my stoop when shoveling yesterday on the boot of my car- or trunk, to be more American about it. I'd put them there with the intention of taking them inside to read when I was done shoveling. Of course, when I was done shoveling, I had completely forgotten about the ads. Hence the fact that they were still on the boot of my car as I drove to work.

I think the saddest part of my realization was not so much that they might fly off and hit someone or distract them but, in fact, I was more concerned that they fly off and I wouldn't be able to read them. I love my weekly ads; there's always a Jungle Jim's one in there and it pays to pore over the flyer to see what's on special. It saves a lot of time by planning ahead.

Thus, as well as being very alert as a driver, I was also very alert to those ads which were in a thin plastic bag and blowing precariously in the cold wind. The hardest part of my drive was pulling into the side-street that leads to our building. Not only was it unplowed but it was icy. I fishtailed when I got to that part, carefully steering my car so that I didn't skid out of control. Still, those ads remained on my car, not blowing off.

You'd think after all that, I'd remember to take them off my car when I got to work. Nope, I was distracted by the fact that there were only two cars aside from mine around the whole building. I was distracted by trying to park in what I thought was a parking spot except I couldn't quite see the lines beneath the snow. Turns out I did part between the lines. Go me.

However, you'll be happy to know that the ads were still there when I came out of work this evening. I know you were concerned. They were frozen to my car which explains why they didn't fly off this morning. There I was thinking I'd been such a steady and cautious driver that even paper wouldn't fly off my car. Alas, no, a thin layer of ice held them steady for me.

I even remembered to take the ads off my car. Shockingly, I even remembered to take them inside my house. Alas, there were no amazing deals that I could see, they were just run-of-the mill grocery ads. Nevertheless, those ads deserved to be read. I may even read them again, just to make sure I didn't miss anything.

I had to shovel a little when I got home tonight. I double checked to make sure I hadn't left anything sitting on my car this time. I have to do things like that at night because in the mornings, I'm usually slightly unawake and only able to stick to my routine which involves juggling my cup of tea and backpack while trying to get into my car without spilling. Anything other than that would be out of the ordinary. I try not to do out-of-the-ordinary in the mornings.

Then again, I suppose driving to work with a bag full of grocery ads stuck to the boot of your car with ice is a little out-of-the-ordinary.

Happy Tuesday!