taxlady

We had lots more yummy food at

denizsarikaya house. It was day two of a party. It was going to be a one day party, but we had so much fun and there was so much yummy food left, that people came back to continue the party. A good time was definitely had. Got to meet some cool people including

somecanuckchick and

miseri.

There was some discussion of waiting 'til morning to leave, because we are having a snow storm.

somecanuckchick was quite concerned and really thought we shouldn't try driving in this sort of weather. She's from Toronto. Everyone explained that this is Québec and we're used to it. I'm glad we didn't wait 'til morning. There was very little traffic at 02h30, which made the slow trip far less stressful. It also meant that the snow on the car was soft, not crusty.

The trip home was interesting. According to The Weather Network's Snow Report there was only 18 cm of snow in Dorval (the local airport). But, that has to be nonsense. We cleared at least 30 cm (12") of snow off my car. Dodo here, forgot to bring the snow brush and didn't think of bringing a shovel either. As soon as doors could be opened and the area around the exhaust pipe were cleared, I started the car to let it warm up. It was only -7C, but with wind chillies of -18C and 94% humidity. It was a group effort getting the car out.

denizsarikaya,

somecanuckchick, and

swestrup pushed - alot. That was after cleared the snow from the right hand wheel wells and some of the path that the wheels would take, as well as windows, lights, roof, hood, and trunk. I learned a new word today: iglooing. It's illegal. It's what they call it when you only clear the windshield.

The snow plows had been out, so the roads weren't as bad as they could have been. We didn't do the slip/slide thing that a lot of other cars were doing. We saw one poor motorist losing their back end to a slide every few feet. I'm guessing no winter tires on that car. I'm really glad that I've got good winter tires. I did, however, get a chance to feel the antilock brake system come on. After cautiously creeping down Chemin de la Côte des Neiges, we dropped off friends. We then got on the 20 West and finally got to drive at over 30 kph. Unfortunately, the 20 hadn't been plowed, just squished by previous motorists. Lanes were not apparent. Some doofus squeezed in front of me. He/she had been tail gating the car in front and to the right of me. I wouldn't have considered it to have been adequate space to make that lane change in perfect driving conditions. He/she was slip sliding while performing this brilliant maneuver. Thank goodness there weren't many like that. After ~25 km of cautious highway driving we were almost home. Boulevard St-Jean seemed to have been plowed along the Pointe-Claire portion. Once we hit DDO, it looked like the snow hadn't been plowed for many hours, just squished.

Had a small arguement with the garage opener, but eventually we prevailed. I really didn't want to make

swestrup get out and use the key to make the garage door open. Thankfully the ramp to the underground garage was not particularly slippery. Home at last. I think I'm gonna call and cancel my doctor's appointment tomorrow. The snow isn't supposed to stop 'til afternoon and I'm not in the mood to deal with it again - and with traffic.

For anyone who believes that

somecanuckchick doesn't really exist, I can attest that she is real. I got a chance to hug and grope her.