Snow Day

The other day, a winter's worth of snow was dumped by the hand of our loving God on this forsaken province. As of today, the city is a mess. Bus service has been suspended. Many streets are simply impassible. The medi-clinic was closed today when I went with my wife, who has been fighting off a nasty staph infection from her recent surgery, to get a new prescription for antibiotics.

There has not been a lot of snow plows in evidence; it seems that the city has already spent its budget for snow removal for this year, and has had to rustle up some extra cash before they can get to work. Snow removal is apparently not seen as a major priority, in a city that gets more snow each year than anywhere in Canada south of 60. It is also noted that 'residential streets', that is, the places where people actually live, are not a priority for snow removal. Yep, it's way more important that trucks going from Toronto to Vancouver be able to cruise through the city unhindered than it is for people to be able to get out of their fucking houses. How much you want to bet that the mayor's driveway is free and clear?

It's spurred a lot of anger at 'The City' for not doing its proper job, and rightly so, since part of our property tax money is meant to keep the roads clear for traffic. But it dawns on me that handing responsibility for keeping our own streets clear off to 'The City' is a little slack. Damn rights, they're supposed to be doing it; but we're the ones who need to drive on these streets. Why in the hell aren't we working to clear them off?

But then, I know why I'm not doing it. I start to get dizzy from the pain after a couple of hours' physical labour, and my wife is sick, and our life is full of problems already, and how much road could one guy expect to clear anyway? But, hell, what if everyone just went out and shoveled off the street in front of their own house? It would be some intense labour but the job would get done pretty quick, especially if we all got together and did it at the same time. Of course, I have no idea how to arrange such a thing, and even a few free riders would quickly turn the exercise into either a lynch mob or a collective shrug. On the other hand, the situation has led to some discussions around our house, albeit tentative and casual, of possible community based solutions to this sort of problem; like, for instance, communally owned snow blowers or quads that could be used by each neighbour in turn.

It really is a sad comment on how far our everyday lives are from the anarchist ideal. We've handed so much responsibility for our lives over to a central authority that when they fail to respond in a crisis, we're effectively paralyzed. We have no contact or intercourse with our closest neighbours, no effective means of organizing something so simple a goddamn shovel brigade; and so we sit around waiting for the snow plow that never comes. This is not the way I want to live anymore. There has to be something better than this.