Solace for Squirrels

There's quite a bit of snow falling outside tonight. Enough that the snow clearing trucks have started driving up and down the streets, horns blaring, to drag people out of their cozy homes to move their cars. I remember when I first moved to Montreal and heard the snow clearing "infini-honk" for the first time. I couldn't understand why some lunatic would randomly drive through this quiet neighbourhood at ungodly hours blaring his horn - how inconsiderate! Finally one morning I got out of bed to take a look, at which point I realised that it was I and not he, that was insane. The truck was equipped with a giant plow and a flashing light. He was driving like a maniac, mind you.

Perhaps even more scary than the street plows are the "mini-plows" whose task it is to clear the sidewalks. God forbid you happen to step out of your house when one of those suckers is whipping by... SPLAT. Perhaps they feel the need to speed as compensation for their smaller equipment.

Despite the snow-clearing equipment, Montreal is beautiful in the winter. The snow has the added benefit of muting many of the usual neighbourhood sounds, so tonight is pleasantly quiet. So quiet in fact, that I will be off to bed now for a nice night's rest.