This week we got snow. Long time readers will remember that while we do get snow from time to time, it’s uncommon and, frankly we don’t deal well with it. People were slipping and sliding all over, schools and ferries were cancelled, generally it was a mess. I made it to work every day but a fair number of people chose to ride out the storm at home. Now you might think ‘what’s the big deal?’ It was only a couple of inches. The thing is that we don’t get this a lot. I suspect that those that have commented about how we’re wimps , Albertans would be in a panic if they got an inch or so of rain every day for a couple of weeks. The second thing is that our snow is not like their snow. When I lived back in the prairies I found that yes we got a lot of snow but Minnesota snow is different. When it’s near zero, snow is dry, powdery, fluffy almost. It lays down in layers and you can carve it out with a shovel like a layer cake. The chunks hold together to the point where oftentimes people could make igloos. Here the snow is different. We got about 2” of snow but another inch fell as very cold rain. Then the temperature dropped and the mixture froze where it fell. The result was that by Tuesday morning the snow was a very dense, very hard ice mix with points and chunks on top of a glaze of ice. Then, in Vancouver at least, more snow fell on top and froze to the mixture. This is hard to move, hard to clean up, and most importantly, hard to drive on.

Then there’s the Port Mann Bridge. They just opened the new Port Mann Bridge linking two sides of Vancouver. The new bridge cost a few billion dollars but it replaces an old narrow fairly ugly orange steel girder bridge with a new very artistic span. Where the old bridge was constructed out of steel beams in an erector set fashion the new one is a cable supported suspension bridge. What’s more, rather than having two rows of support posts on the outside like the San Francisco Bay bridge does, the new Port Mann Bridge has two massive pillars in the middle between the lanes and cables reaching out to support the roadway. It’s really a very beautiful bridge.
http://www.theprovince.com/news/fraser-valley/Port+Mann+bridge+officially+opens/7639777/story.html

This week though, they discovered a problem. You see, on the old bridge, snow would either hang up inside the girders or fall off in small pieces and mostly land on the side of the roadway. This new bridge has huge cables passing over the lanes from the edge to the central posts. Snow and ice collects on the massive cables until enough is stuck together, many pounds worth, at which point it slides off the rounded cable and falls down to hit the cars below. People had their windshields smashed, sunroofs smashed, cars dented, mirrors broken off, some were even injured.
http://www.globaltvbc.com/falling+ice+and+snow+forces+closure+of+port+mann+bridge+all+lanes+now+open/6442775606/story.html

On CBC we’ve heard three opinions on this. They interviewed a Dutch architect that has written the standard book on bridge design who said “Yeah, they do that. You have to just expect to close the bridge for a few days every year.” The Province is saying, “We contracted for a 365 day bridge and that’s what we expect the contractor to provide.” The contractor is not saying much beyond “We built it to code.” More to come.

But ice was not the only thing falling from the sky. At a Calgary Hitmen game, a minor league hockey franchise, (The NHL is still on strike much to the disgust of many here in Canada) they do something called a Teddy Bear Toss. The idea is that when the home team scores their first goal they throw a teddy bear on the ice. More precisely EVERYONE throws a teddy bear on the ice. The result is just crazy as hundreds of stuffed animals fly through the air. It’s almost enough to get me to go watch hockey. Well, no not really.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMWf3mWBjrY
The teddy bears are shovelled up and donated to charity. At first I thought they should do this down south in the US as well. Then I thought about it, and realized what a horror show it would be. Imagine if Red Wings fans did this with thousands of octopus.

And speaking of weird sports stories, this caught my eye. Have you even been watching a game and some guy holds up a sign saying something like John 13-9 or Ephesians 9-6 or Aldebaran 54-40 or whatever? Well, this week at a game in England they held up a sign saying Corinthians 1-0, only that wasn’t some guy in a rainbow wig. It was the score. Chelsea was playing a team from Brazil, the Corinthians, who won 1 goal to nil.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/20746503
The story is straight forward enough, it just struck me as odd and amusing. The Fighting Corinthians? I thought the Ducks, and Gophers were strange mascots.

Finally here’s an example of good parenting, or perhaps not.  In the Vancouver suburb of Surrey a 19 year old was hurt riding a long board. (A long board is a type of skateboard that people ride very fast down hills.) First he was riding in fairly nasty weather which is not a great idea. Second he was getting towed behind a car, also not a good idea. It turns out that none other than dear old dad was driving the car.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2012/12/15/bc-surrey-longboard-unjured.html
I suspect this was not exactly what mom meant when she said he should “Get more involved in junior’s interests.” Someone should be the adult.

Wishing everyone a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!  Hope your travels are safe and everyone is happy and healthy.

BTW: Since a few folks asked, I just thought I would clarify, yes Doug wrote the poem from last week's email, A Connecticut Christmas.

PIX Momiji does not like snow.

What the heck is this?!?


Why are you doing this to me?


How do I get out of here?


Aaaannnnnnddd...she's gone.