Tuesday, December 7, 2010

A Winter's Day

Late last night
on my little side street
sat a city truck
with flashing lights replete.

My heart it sank
as questions began to mount.
What was going on?
What fresh hell could I now count?

 Early this morning
my fears were realized.
 A knock on the door
brought bad news, I surmised.

"The water'll be turned off,"
a man clad in orange declared.
A water main break;
The cause of this new despair.

So we watched from the window
as a hole was dug.
Morning entertainment; cool!
For another snowy day funk.

Well, on the seventh day of December
the numbers began to add.
Would you care to do the math
for my wintry woes comrade?

12 yellow flags


11 Tonnes of dirt (or something like that to fill the hole in the road afterwards)
10 AM - When I went out with coffees (and to survey the damage)
9 AM - When they started to dig


8 AM - When they knocked on the door
7th Heaven - for me as they plowed the driveway & brushed off the van (in appreciation for coffee)
6 Big orange pylons
5 City workers


4 Cups of coffee (plus 1 tea for the poor guys stuck out in the snow)
3 G-Tel vans (line locating crew)


2 City trucks
and 1 Back hoe to dig the hole...


 Happy Winter Days my friends!
Oh, and I am jumping on early for One Shot Wednesday this week. Enjoy!!



37 comments:

  1. Great 12 days (or hours) of being without water - too clever my friend
    And a partridge in a snow bank...

    One Shot smiles

    your host - MDW

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  2. Awww! I loved the 12 days of wintry hell, though I'm sorry you have to deal with water loss on top of everything else!

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  3. Did you use the white snow for the coffee? ..smiles..

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  4. annoying, but not too devastating...and clearly entertaining

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  5. Wow....what a winter!!!....have a 5th cup of coffee!....YOU deserve it! :-)

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  6. @MDW: And a partridge in a snow bank...
    I love it! Ha. Thanks Leslie

    @Talon: Heck, it was distraction & adult company of a sort for my wintry shut in week.

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  7. @booguloo: Did you use the white snow for the coffee? ..smiles..
    Oh, never thought of that! Darn. :) Naw, I figure in the grand scheme of things they were making my world a better place. Thanks for visiting!

    @LauraX: It was entertaining LauraX. A break in the routine that is getting squirrelly at our house. And a good distraction from memories of the bad days that preceded it.

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  8. @Carrie: This was our first taste of winter, but OH BOY, what a taste!!! Almost out of coffee though, so I will be braving the roads tomorrow come hell or high snowbank!

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  9. I can't believe all that snow!
    London is not that far away!
    Nice pics K.....

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  10. BRAVA, Katherine!

    This is by far the most ORIGINAL and BEST version of The 12 Days of Christmas I've EVER heard!

    You are sooooooo clever!

    And I know how you feel about having your water turned off because the same thing happened to me FOUR times this past summer - OY!

    I cannot believe how much snow you've gotten already - WOW!

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  11. @ G-Man: I know! My Mother lives an hour East of here and they have had NOTHING! We are in a snow belt I've been told. Indeed. It isn't snowing at the moment, but the schools are all closed again tomorrow anyway. We are expecting to get another 20 cm or so tomorrow. On Sat we just had a dusting if you can believe it. They say we have over 80 cm already (~31 inches). I am getting my shoulder workout!

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  12. @Ron: Why thank you Ron!! :0) I know that you appreciate this, being the winter lover that you are. Could you handle this much snow where you are at though? And 4 times over the summer! Ack. I had no water today & no phone last week when they were digging the telephone box in. The water is way more important though.
    Anyway, we are supposed to get more snow again tomorrow, so I shall probably have more pics put up in the continuing saga of our snowsqualls (if I don't lose it and strangle the kids and myself! - NO school for the 3rd day in a row!)

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  13. wow...almost wishing you lords a leaping...smiles.

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  14. @Brian: or a beer in a tree (from last week's B&D Mckenzie song) :)

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  15. Wow!...hope you get water asap.

    Cheers!

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  16. LOL! I can just hear this being sung as they dig. ("F-I-V-E city workers!")

    Nice One Shot, kkrige!

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  17. So much snow. Living in Delhi, I can't imagine it...

    destined wanderings

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  18. wow - tons of snow..could be quite romantic without the water loss...

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  19. Yikes-- winter woes! Glad your sense of good humor seems not to be damaged!

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  20. wow theyre so immense! and happy winter days to you too!

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  21. @Emmanuel: Back on thanks. Cheers back at ya!

    @Eric: Yeah, when I started counting the different trucks and flags I knew that I would turn it into a song. It just flows off the tongue, doesn't it ;)

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  22. @Gautami: It set some long-standing records, but we're pretty hardy in Canada, so can handle it. We just put on our toques, snow boots, snow pants, mitts, scarves, snow jackets and then hope that we don't have to go to the bathroom when we are done. :)

    @Claudia: It is beautiful Claudia. The only one to walk hand in hand with though are my little people (not so romantic). The water was back on by shortly after lunch, so all good now.

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  23. @Marilynn: There's no point in getting upset. We live in a snow belt and I would rather have snow than brown, dead grass to look at. A storm likes this tends to bring out the best in people actually, as neighbours help dig out neighbours, strangers offer coffee (oh, that was me!) and all help out when a vehicle gets stuck. Just part of the deal.

    @DeLi: We were all a little surprised by this storm and the amount of snow we got. Thanks for visiting!

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  24. Solid use of rhyme scheme, with some interesting variations on the chestnuts. Effective work.

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  25. @Steve: Thank you sir. Not a chestnut to be seen in this post I am afraid, but I am glad you liked it anyway.

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  26. @Alice: Nope, I am in Ontario Alice. Have you been snowed in too? They say it might end tomorrow for a spell, before starting back up again. winter is here with a vengeance, but I managed to get my snow tires on in betweens the squalls. Ready for anything now!!

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  27. and a partridge in a pear tree....what luck those workmen have in you! Lots of tea and coffee...good one on you!

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  28. @Kathew: just working on my angel's wings ;) Gotta do my part. Also checked on one of my elderly neighbours and brought him some home-made soup. Following the mayor's orders is all (or something like that)

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  29. Glad it is back on, sounded terrible. Excellent poem came out of all though. :)

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  30. aah, winter! Seamless flow and rhyme -- loved the humor and how you counted backwards through the 12 things. Hope the hole is all covered up now. I enjoyed the read and the accompanying photographs.

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  31. FIVE GOLDEN SNOWBANKS!!!

    Okay, that was a bit of a nonsequitor, but I felt so inspired by your lovely pix and post.

    And just WHY was the snow yello? Well, from teh golden snow fairies dusting, of course!!

    Love to see the metric way of spelling "tonnes." I've been a bit homesick lately,and happy to connect with another Canuck.

    Water running well again??

    xoxo

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  32. a delightful poem about a very un delightful experience.

    cheers

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  33. Nothing like little adventures, lol.
    Anna :)

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  34. @Neva: Just a perk of living in the snow belt. When we get serious drops in temperature or heavy snow water mains have a tendency to burst. Sucks, but the trucks have been sanding, so not so bad.

    @Helena: Nice to meet you Helena and thanks for joining me on my photos journey. The backhoe and trucks were back today to drop some cold tar on the hole as a makeshift fix for the winter. Perhaps it will get all dug up again in the spring for more fun.

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  35. @Jannie: Well Hellllloooooo Ms Funsterland!!Aw, shall I mail you a snowball Jannie? The snow isn't quite at the great packing state, but I bet the golden snow fairies might help me to spray a little yeller on it to help maker stick. Hugs from the frozen North my love. xo

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  36. @David: Why thank you. A bow from me to you.

    @Anna: It keeps us crazy Canucks going, doesn't it? When you are all cooped up a little AM show makes the day flow a little easier. :)

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