Snow Day?

Woohoo! Both kids were healthy enough to go to school today. Of course when I woke up I wasn't sure if they were going to have school today. It was snowing pretty hard out there. I kept checking the various websites I have bookmarked to see if there were any announcements about school but nope, none. It was going to be a regular school day. But, my Washington, D.C. area brain thought, how can they have school? It's snoooooowing! Then I remembered, we live in Canada now. It takes a LOT to cancel school up here.

I grew up in the Washington D.C. area. That area doesn't know how to handle snow. A few snowflakes falling from the sky can cause a chain-reaction like you would not believe. The governments there do treat the roads and they have snow plows, but drivers in the area aren't used to snow so they don't really know how to drive in it. No one has snow tires on their cars because honestly, that area doesn't get that much snow to need them. But it is usually enough snow to cause traffic nightmares.

Like what you ask? Here's a good example. A few years ago, my husband was at work when it started snowing. On a good day he could make the drive home (a 10 mile drive at most) in 15-20 minutes. The snow started falling right before rush hour, which is totally misnamed. Seriously, it should be called sitting hour or creeping hour because that's pretty much what you do - sit in your car and creep along when the car in front of you moves, yelling curses at the drivers around you for not driving faster. And hour should most likely be hourS. It is a very angry time on the roads.

Anyway, the snow started falling and everyone freaked out and jumped in their cars to rush home before they got snowbound at work. Now, this wouldn't have been such a problem except with all these people rushing to get home the snow plows couldn't do their job. And with the snow plows unable to clear/treat the roads, people were getting stuck, which led to the snow plows unable to do their job...see the vicious cycle here? This led to it taking HOURS for people to get home. When the hubby left the office it took him 5 hours to get home. It should have been longer but he got sick of being stuck on a hill with a bunch of other people and drove on the wrong side of the road to get around them. 5 hours to go what should have taken 20 minutes.

This is why when it snows, the schools shut down. Can you imagine being stuck on a school bus for 5 hours with a bunch of rowdy kids? Sounds hellish to me too. Of course, closing school (or choosing not to) always results in criticism of the school system. Just last week they didn't close the schools when they should have and parents screamed about it. This week they closed the schools for snow and didn't really need to and parents screamed about it. And of course, after they miss so many days of school they have to make up those days, either by adding on time to the end of the year or taking away teacher work days/holidays. It's a no-win situation for the school districts. I am glad I am not the one who has to make that decision.

This is why when I got up this morning and saw it was snowing I expected schools to be closed. Even though I've been in Canada for a year and a half now and survived the worst winter in 20 years last year, I still expect school to shut down when it snows. The snow was coming down fast, the street hadn't been plowed, but the bus still came on time. And the kids went outside for recess while it was still snowing (they had a blast). They know how to handle snow up here. By noon the streets had been plowed and life was back to normal. And even last year, when we had blizzards, the kids were in school the next day, occasionally with an hour delay (usually not though). Oh, and there's no making up of school days. My friends up here looked at me funny when I asked about that last year.

Now, in D.C.'s defense, the area is a geographical nightmare for predicting snow. It often falls on the rain/snow line for storms and a slight shift in one direction or another can mean the area gets no snow or it gets 2 feet of snow. And since they get so little snow in the grand scheme of things, it would be a waste of money to keep a full-time road clearing staff like they do here.

I miss my friends and family back in the D.C. area, but I sure do not miss the traffic nightmares that occur when it snows. I do not miss having to make up snow days. I like living in a place where snow is a short inconvenience not a massive problem. And I like the fact that they put gravy on their fries up here. Try it sometime. You won't be disappointed.