Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Competence when it counts

This week, the weather story in Ontario's Near North is the same as it is in many places in North America, it's all about the usually warm weather.  Last week, however, it was pretty dramatic around here.  There was a great big dump of snow, followed by a big melt-off, followed by an episode of blowing snow.

What I particularly noticed was the way that the people responsible for highway maintenance sent all hands on deck just before the predicted warmfront arrived to prevent a catastrophe. People with plows were pushing a winter's worth of snow accumulation off the shoulders of our country roads so that when melting occurred, the water would run off into ditches and not onto the road, where it very likely would refreeze.  Other workers with shovels moved lumps of snow that were blocking drainage, or soon would be.

They did this unglamorous job successfully and there was no catastrophe.

Just like every year.

I celebrate this competence, so easy to take for granted.

Image: somewhere in the Great White North.

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