The Really Snowy Day

Toronto got really walloped on Monday.  Fortunately, most people were well aware that there was a big blizzard coming, so they generally didn't venture out unless there was a really good reason.  That's not to say that there was no traffic.  Lots of people did try to go driving and quickly found out it wasn't going to work out.  Over 500 TTC buses got stuck in the storm on Monday and possibly thousands of cars.  Here's the 72 Pape bus stuck over on Carlaw near Gerrard.

I did the heavy shoveling in the morning.  I haven't seen snow like that in 10+ years.  The kids were more than a little put out to learn that Monday was going to more virtual school -- and not a snow day!  The TDSB relented and decided that Tuesday would be a full-on snow day, which must be the first in all the time we've lived here (6 or so years)!  It was still snowing at lunchtime, but my wife and son took over the shoveling duties.

Here are the before and after photos.

I actually did venture out quite reluctantly on Monday.  I was trying to get something at the dollar store.  I managed to get there, only to find it was completely closed.  I went a couple of blocks to the mall.  The grocery store and Wal-Mart were open, but most stores in the mall were closed, including a different dollar store, so that was quite frustrating!  

Here's a picture of some road clearing on Day 2, as well as the huge mountain of snow in a local parking lot.

By Tuesday evening, I figured that the city had dug out enough, so I set off on a trip over to the Riverdale Library.  It was closed, which was justso incredibly frustrating.  Later I found that the library website only sporadically indicated that ALL the branches were closed on Tuesday, even the ones on major streets which had been plowed.  I can't embed this video directly, unfortunately, but this is how I felt when I got to the library.  In some ways it was even worse, as it had been shoveled by that point, though the lights were out, but I still had to go to the front door only to find it was locked.

In another development, I went a second time (last week) to the Toronto Reference Library only to find that floors 4 and 5 (with all the art and literature) were going to be closed until some undetermined future date, but I could put in a request for items on the open shelves.  I was pretty put out by this news and didn't stick around, as I didn't have the time to wait.  This week, the Omicron sick-out has gotten to the point that they closed the 2nd and 3rd floor as well and they aren't retrieving items either, making the Reference Library essentially useless for anything but using the computers on the 1st floor and picking up holds (from other libraries*).  It's hard to overstate how pointless it is keep the Reference Library open under these conditions.  For the moment, I can still pick up holds at Robarts, but I expect this may be curtailed in the near future, so I'm trying to get those last few items of interest.

What a dreary winter this is turning out to be.  Unless something changes, namely the hospitalizations get even worse, gyms, restaurants and museums are supposed to reopen on Jan. 31.  I'm not sure it's the wisest course of action, but I'll probably start going out a bit more in February.  It's supposed to be quite cold for the next week or so, but hopefully no more blizzards!

* And it turns out my main local branch was closed for a day for Covid cleaning, so I couldn't get my holds there either!  It seems to be open now, but I may wait one more day anyway, as I can't fully rely on their on-line info any longer...