The Evolution Of The Storm Stance

~ Bitchy After 60

I was still asleep when my phone tinged, binged, dinged with that annoying sound to alert me of a text message. It was from my orthodontist’s office to say that the office was closed due to the weather, and they would call to reschedule my appointment when they reopened. My appointment had been scheduled for just after lunch, and believe me, I was quite happy not to have to show up in today’s snow storm. It takes hours for the plow to get to my neighborhood. It would never arrive in time for me to get off my street and head out into the world. At 8:00 a.m., after my phone made that annoying sound, I no longer had to worry about it so I snuggled down for a bit more sleep.

There was a time, not too long ago, when such weather meant us dragging ourselves out of bed to shovel snow and head off on the long slow drive to the office on slick, often unplowed roads; all the time hoping that the car didn’t slide into a ditch or another vehicle. God I hated those white-knuckle driving days. But those were the days when you were expected to turn up. Back then, very few businesses closed for bad weather. And you were considered a wuss if you didn’t go to work. You were considered selfish if you wanted to put your life ahead of your job. And lord help you if school was closed and your daycare was closed because those were the things that often closed for bad weather.

Remember the days when kids and parents listened to the radio, while eating breakfast, waiting for the happy announcement, if you were a kid, that school was closed. Not so happy if you were a working parent. Even the method of the closure message has changed. Gone are the days of needing to have the radio tuned into a specific channel. Texting and social media deliver the message instantly to everyone with a single click. Even phone calls are obsolete.

Now days, more and more businesses close when it snows, and sometimes when there are just rumours of snow. Offices reschedule appointments. Government employees are encouraged not to drive or to work at home. Small and medium businesses realize that almost no one wants to do business in bad weather. Fewer people have to white-knuckle drive in a snow storm. Still there are those who must go in: hospital and other healthcare personnel, emergency workers, grocery store employees. The same important group who worked through the pandemic. And, of course, employees of corporations that only see the bottom line, not the individual people that work for them.

Those who don’t make the drive hunker down at home with storm chips and hot chocolate, because they listened to the weather and made sure to stock up on supplies the day before. They share comforters and streamed entertainment, video games and maybe even board games. Some will venture outside, bundled up in boots, touques, and mittens, to ride down local hills on snow racers or toboggans. No matter what they choose to do, they make a day of it, savouring the gift of a mini vacation. 

I can’t help but think about how much things and attitudes have changed when it comes to snow storms in my life time. How school busses showed up almost every day no matter the weather when I was a student. How snow days were rare when I was a kid and extremely rare throughout most of my working life, except the last couple of years. Then I am reminded of the older stories of our parents and grandparents who told tales of walking miles to school in a storm with snow so deep it buried their boots. Tales that got exaggerated with each telling, two miles, five miles, ten miles. Yet, no matter the number, they tell me how much easier things have become with each passing generation. If only everyone would learn to appreciate that.

Thank you for reading. 

Photo: Jenn Stone

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18 thoughts on “The Evolution Of The Storm Stance”

  1. Hi. Snow can be so disruptive, and it makes driving dangerous, like you say. By the way, here in the Philadelphia region, we got about eight inches of snow a week and a half ago. I’d almost forgotten what snow looks like, because that was our first snowfall in over 700 days.

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  2. Growing up in Manitoba we rarely had snow days. I can only recall one as a child and one when I was in university. And your right people would be called wusses if they didn’t show up for work. Hope you enjoyed some hot chocolate 😊

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  3. I grew up in the Dakotas, and I loved snow in those days. It’s a little different when you’re a kid and don’t have to drive in the stuff. We get snow maybe once a year where we live on the coast. I found it hysterical when they canceled school when all of one inch was on the ground, considering some of the days school remained open when I was a kid.

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  4. It’s funny because up here in Maine winter used to be a force. Feet of snow dumped at a time with below zero temperatures for weeks…. and we plunged right through it to school or work. Now? When winter is barely recognizable and 3 inches causes a panic…. everyone stays home.
    🥴

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  7. I can’t help but think about how much things and attitudes have changed when it comes to snow storms in my life time. Same here. My husband and I grew up farther north and it snowed from November to March, usually about a foot deep most of the winter. Nothing shut down for snow storms, nothing. In fact, in my 12 years of public schooling our schools only closed once… because there were snow drifts taller than first graders with more snow coming that day so they decided it might be wise close for one day. One day only.

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    1. I remember some pretty tall snow drifts myself. They made great snow forts. I think I missed more school time due to a bus driver strike than from snow. The bus would take us to school, 7 and then in high school 15, miles from our bus stop; and no matter the weather, they had to get us back home. Very few mothers had cars back then.

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  8. “And you were considered a wuss if you didn’t go to work. You were considered selfish if you wanted to put your life ahead of your job.”

    So true! I hate driving on ice and am a bit nervy on snow – at least, with snow, you’ve a chance of the sides being soft if you skid and the skid being slower. Ice terrifies me altogether – on foot or in a car.

    I used to love sledging when it snowed and at my last house did it most winters. Now I’ve moved here, it doesn’t seem to get any sledgeable snow at all and I haven’t been out once. I’ve even sold my best sledge (toboggan I think you’d say).

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    1. I agree, ice is terrifying, especially after dark. So happy I don’t have to do that anymore. I haven’t gone sledding for about 30 years. I would try to get my son to go when he was little but he just wasn’t an outdoor kid back then. Now I wait and hope the lake freezes so I can go skating.

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