And the bright lights came towards me... - January 19, 2009
This morning, I woke up at 6am as it had been storming all night. For me, one of those personal challenges I like to face when there is a snow storm is getting my little car out of the driveway and being one of those first people to break new ground on the freshly dropped snow. As I pulled my tired and creaky corpse out of bed, I could feel the weight of the snow as I heard raindrops and melting snow fall from the roof. Even the dogs wanted to stay asleep.
As I opened the front door in to the mist of the odd winter morning and stepped in to the slush, I was greeted with a 4 foot wall of snow that the city plow had left me to tangle with. I lofted my boots in to the yuck of slush and set off with two shovels to do my morning's work. I brought a normal snow-plow style shovel and a dirt spade. I figured the smaller scoops the better for the deep stuff.
I drove the spade in to the snow and quickly confirmed my suspicion. This was some seriously heavy snow.
Throughout the night, it had snowed 10cm or snow in a form of tamed blizzard and then quickly changed to rain. What a mess.
So I worked through the snow scoop by scoop. The weight of the snow kept my shoveling speed in check. Then the bright lights shone on me. The payoff for being the only person outside in this hybrid snow/rain blizzard. A giant excavator came straight towards the giant wall of snow. The lights a blazing. This one scoop pass was nothing for this man and his excavator. For me, it was the difference between a bunch of knots in my back and trying to make a morning appointment. The young bearded dude waved and smiled. With a great big sigh of relief and a smile, I brought back some of my japanese cultural learnings and saluted the giant snow-saviour with a polite japanese style bow, he pulled away with a great big wave.
6am. Someone has done a tremendously nice deed for me. I'm feeling pretty lucky today. I hope to be able to pay it forward soon to someone in my path.
Have a splendid day. Always.
Adam