Stephen Vance, Editor
It’s the middle of April and we’re still in the midst of the winter that refuses to say goodbye. But I’d like to assure Old Man Winter that it’s okay, we’ve had our fill, you can go now, we won’t be disappointed.
You’re done with this season, Dear Winter. You brought us a white Christmas, and a white New Year. You showed off with your impressive display of a pile of blue ice on our shoreline – some of us marvelled, some of us shrugged.
You’ve provided more than enough snow days for the school children, and you’ve caused more vehicle collisions than necessary. You’ve brought too much joy to skiers and those that enjoy tromping around on snowshoes, but you’re starting to annoy those who long to do some work in the garden, or to hop on a bicycle.
You held strong through January, February, and March, but you’ve had the audacity to stick around far too long into April – enough is enough.
April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but this year we might be lucky to say a final farewell to snow and chilly temperatures by the time May rolls around, and the flowers might have to wait until June this year.
If it sounds like I’m whining, well, I guess I am, but when I hear even my winter-loving friends saying they’ve had it with winter, and they’re itching to throw on some shorts and sandals, I know I’m not alone in my desire to say goodbye to scraping snow and ice off my car’s windows, and instead say a hello to barbeques and mosquitos.
Without doubt our municipal snowplow drivers could do with a break from months of scraping our roads, and members of council most likely wouldn’t turn down a few months without people calling or emailing to complain about their road not having been plowed in a timely fashion.
Personally, I’ve typically got little patience for the winter months as it is. I like winter in small doses – a week or two each year would do the trick, but I know that for many, winter is a season of magic and fun, and I get that, but you’ve all had your fun, now it’s time for reading books in the park, riding bicycles, backyard fire-pits, and complaining about potholes and the blistering heat. I’m looking forward to ice cooling beverages, and kids wandering around with snow-cones. I want to see skateboards instead of snowboards, and sunhats instead of toques.
Yup, I’m done with winter, I was done a while ago, but it seems that the people around me are catching up to me, and they are done too. So, it’s time, Dear Winter; release your icy grip and take some time off. Stop by again around December, we’ve got things under control until then. We’ve got a community-wide clean-up to undertake, we’ve got Canada Day celebrations to look forward to, not to mention farmers’ market season, and heck, the scarecrow volunteers can’t start building all the scarecrows for this year’s event until the snow is gone, and the air warms up, so hop to it!
With any luck before this month is over, the snow will be gone, and the grass will start turning green, and we won’t see ice and snow for many months – that is of course unless Doug Ford becomes our new premier in June, then I would expect to see more ice and snow than I’ve ever seen before, because after all, isn’t Hell supposed to freeze over when really bad things happen?
I’m going to stay optimistic, I’m going to dig out the summer sandals, and I’m going to prepare a stack of books for summer reading. Even if we’re still weeks away (gasp) at least I’ll be ready.
