Dreaming of Spring

We got hit with yet another winter storm on last Thursday and on the same day there was a freight train derailment on the route I take home. So my usual one hour commute, took over 3 hours.

When I heard about the derailment, I decided to leave early and catch the 3:13pm train home, plus the weather was likely to slow things further - I was not the only one with this idea - pretty much everyone who works in the Toronto downtown core decided to leave early to beat the rush as well - ya right!

They said the train was only going as far as Pickering (3 stops before where I need to go) and that buses would be available to take us the rest of the way (note: the train carries approx. 4000 people, can you image how many buses would be needed to get us home?)

The 3:13pm train arrived at 3:20pm but didn't leave until 3:30pm, then they announced that they had the track cleared enough to take us to the end of the line (my stop) YAH! The train however, went very very slowly and had to make stops before and after the derailment. The usual 45 min trip took an hour and 40 mins.

And because the train was late and traffic was bad, da man couldn't wait and pick me up as he had to get da kid from daycare before it closed. I was stuck taking the bus. Again the bus trip that usually takes only 40 mins, took an hour and a half - why oh why don't people put snow tires on their cars?! The bus had no problem getting through the storm, it was the cars spun out on hills that caused all the delays!

Then I had a 4 block walk home through sidewalks that hadn't been cleared of their 2 foot snow drifts. I was thankfully wearing boots - it was quite the little workout.

I wisely decided that I was NOT going to try to battle my way into work the next day. I also decided (unwisely?) to keep my son home with me. At 9:15am the power went out - the freezing rain the night before was reaking havoc on the power lines. Approximately 3o mins later, the charge ran out on my son's hand held video game unit (it doesn't run on batteries but needs to be plugged in to recharge).

So there I was with a 9 yr old whining because he could not play his video games OR watch TV. Da kid can play by himself with regular (non-electric) toys for hours (or read - he LOVES to read) on any other day - but that day I had to sit and listen to him whine about having nothing to do.

After several silly name games, he became Captain Poopy Pants, I was Princess Peepee Pants and the dog that is famous for SBDs (silent but deadlys) was Sir Stinks A Lot. Hey we had time to kill! And we had a really good belly laugh to boot.

The power came back on about 4 hours later - thank God!

The rest of the weekend was great - I went to a spa night at a friends and had a one hour massage! Fabulous! and on Sunday, da man took da kid ice skating.

Da man hadn't been ice skating in about 30 yrs - da kids tells me it was hilarious :)

I really am looking forward to spring!

The high temp tomorrow will be -12 C (that's 10 F for all you Americans :)) and the low will be -30 C (-22 F).

Ya I am definitely ready for spring!