Surely when looking at the snowfall amounts and dates of storms over the course of however long we have records for would help to smooth out the bumps. As well, cities could figure out costs per kilometer of road plowed to account for growth. Yes, you are not always going to be on the nose in your predictions but maxing out your budget after 20% of the expected duration of the winter is a bit ridiculous and shows, in my opinion, mighty poor planning.
On googling to see how grounded in reality the trope is most of the articles I can find are showing maxing out in March or maxing out the 2010 budget in November of 2010 so I’m going to chalk this up to different ways of measuring the budget time frame combined with larger than normal storms maxing out the budget towards the end of the year. Nothing to see here, I guess.
I remember my Dad being so ticked off at the guy who shoveled his sidewalk for him in Saskatoon. If I’m remembering the right year, there was very little snow over 2000-2001. The deal was, you paid the guy $300 a month from November to December, and he’d do your sidewalk and driveway for you within 24 hours of a snowfall. The deal had been the same for 6 or 7 years.
At any rate, Dad figured he got ripped off for that year; the rest of us just said “Did you pay him extra the year he was over here every God-damned week?”.
I can speak with the utmost authority on the snowfall north of Toronto, 2000-2001.
It was completely ridiculous. I remember it so well because my first divorce came that autumn, and I had to do a lot more driving for my two boys’ hockey. It literally snowed at some point of each and every day for 6 weeks straight. That was between late November and early January.
This is not exaggeration on my part.
Feels like we haven’t even had winter around here, since then.
I’m pretty sure that was the winter in Ottawa where a buddy of mine golfed on New Years Day. It was very unseasonable and there were thoughts that the canal might not freeze over for skating. Eventually it did open in February for 5 or 6 weeks.
Hmm… just Googled around and I guess it was the winter of 2001/2002 I’m thinking of.
ETA: And the canal was only open for skating for 26 days.
Right. Some seasons the flat-rate guys will make a mint, and others not so much. One thing is for sure, that makes paying them seem reasonable, is that they are pretty much on call. I have a couple buddies who have to miss hockey regularly due to snowfall. So it must kind of suck to have one’s schedule be at the whim of Old Man Winter.
So, Vancouver has moved to ban doorknobs. A good idea given an aging population or a step too far?
Personally, I think this is a fine idea for public access areas and apartments but requiring it for private homes is a step too far. If I want a lever handle I’ll get one. If I want to protect from raptor attacks I’ll stick to my old fashioned doorknob.
Don’t forget the deep-fried pickles - my favourite part of a visit to Big T’s.
You guys can be logical all you want, and city council can be logical all they want, but what it comes down to is the citizens want everything for nothing. They want more services and lower taxes, and it never occurs to them that they are asking the impossible, and if you don’t give it to them, it’s city council’s fault for not making it happen.
Every day I’m shovelling. I sing this to myself when we get into the “snowfall every day” part of the year - “Every day, I’m shovelling, shovelling…”
He has said that he’s working with professionals to help with his “issues”. That would be his weight issue, since he’s stated that he does not have a drug or alcohol problem <OK then >
So he’s got himself a fitness consultant. One who works with body builders and such.
Trouble is: His fitness consultant spent some time in jail for steroid trafficking in the US and was subsequently deported. He’s currently on a a 12-year ban from Canadian sport for administering steroids to a national-level boxer.
Nice. Ford cannot even get a trainer who is not in trouble with the law over drugs.
Of course his trainer has legal problems with drugs - why wouldn’t he? I don’t think I’m capable of being surprised by anything Ford does at this point (and then two days from now something else will come out!).
On a mostly related note, there was a poll on a local tv news show yesterday, asking if Calgarians would vote for Rob Ford if he ran for Prime Minister of Canada - these are the results:
88% No
12% Yes
So apparently 12% of Calgarians responding to the poll are nuts - good to know!
