The winter of 2022-23 should go down in the history books as the Year with an Abundance of Snow. Mucho Snowo. Apparently, in Spanish, snow is nieve, but I like the sound of mucho snowo better. If you are one of the many Canadians vacationing in Mexico and someone asks why left the north just say “Hay demasiada nieve,” too much snow.
We got a lot of snow this year and no doubt, this will be the year everyone refers to when they talk about the amounts of snowfall the city can get. I expect people in years to come will say things like, “You think this is a lot of snow, you should have seen the winter of 2022-23. Now that was a whole lot of snow.”
Stories change and grow with every telling, to eventually become myths and legions. This story starts out with the city getting hit with several days of early and heavy snow. Vehicles were getting stuck everywhere. All over town. The sidewalks and alleys were impassible. Even the drive-thrus were struggling. The city was a little late reacting to this early dump of snow and it took days of ploughing just to semi-clear the main streets.
Shipments of food and fuel were running late, so chaos and confusion were rampant. Then, on the lead-up to Christmas, the entire nation was hit with storms which shut down most of the airports. As we tried to dig Yellowknife out, it seemed that the entire country was being buried in snow. The drifts and snowbanks were getting so high, they were difficult to see over. Then for some reason, several school bus drivers quit, and some students had to walk to school or parents had to rejig their schedules to give their kids a ride. Also, inflation hit and the cost of food, gasoline and home heating fuel skyrocketed.
It seemed like the perfect storm to drive people to distraction and despair. Maybe it should be named the Winter of our Discontent. A phrase which comes from none other than the bard, Will Shakespeare. This just goes to show you, that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
While all this was going on, several people on social media reported seeing wolf tracks around town. I thought just what we need. Tracks were seen at the Ski Club, Tin Can Hill and on Frame Lake. It made it seem like the wolves were closing in and circling. In lots of old stories and legends, when the wolves begin to circle, that is usually not a good sign or omen.
It all reminded me of a rather morose story I read as a teenager. It was about a small village, I think in Russia, that got snowed in. The people were cut off from the rest of the world. They were running out of food. They were starving and down to their last potato. A big pack of mean and nasty wolves had circled the village and were closing in. Things did not look good for the villagers. I have no idea how much of the story was fact or fiction but it was certainly written to give one nightmares and wolves were certainly portrayed badly. Later I read “Never Cry Wolf” by Farley Mowat, and I got to interact with wolves in the wilds. I actually like wolves and have never had any problems with them.
We need a new winter’s tale. Maybe one where the politician circles the town. Particularly those politicians who like to raise taxes, waste money or give away vast sums of it, then act surprised when the monster inflation arrives. They could be the real villains that the poor villagers have to contend with and survive. Maybe they are trying to figure out a way to tax and confiscate that last potato.
We just need someone to write the epic tale of the winter of 2022-23. That would be one way to pass the time on a cold winter’s night. And if you don’t like the last potato idea substitute the last box of jellied donuts. Remember stay warm the daylight is returning.