The Storm (I'm getting too old for this crap)

That was a helluva three days, especially for me. I'm getting too old for this crap.

My full-time job in property maintenance means snowstorms have me looking at the the business end of a shovel until the snow is cleared, or until the boss decides we've had enough. That was nearly 18 hours Friday, another eight or nine Saturday and another six-and-a-half Sunday, my day off. And with today scheduled as a clean-up day, we're still shoveling, so we're not done yet.

From 10 Friday morning until seven that night the snow fell at a rate of four to five centimetres an hour. That's a helluva lot of snow. How much snow? Well, I'll tell ya how much.

You know when you get the feeling in the back of your head - that little itch - that something's behind you? That something might be gaining on you? On Friday, something was gaining on me: Snow.

We  would be digging out a big pad and I would look behind me about 30 feet or so and see snow already accumulating where we had just shoveled 20 minutes before. It was ready for another round. Again.

We just couldn't keep up. No one could.

The storm shut down business early on Friday and those who stayed open until then didn't get much business. People couldn't in to the malls to shop, and they weren't too happy about it.Usually we get good vibes from people on snow days. People - most of the time - appreciate us and the work we do. Not this time.

I almost got into it with a young dude at one of our Ajax properties on Friday. He was obviously stuck and when we pulled in with the plow truck he waved us over. I figured he wanted our help, but instead he started snapping at us for taking too long to get there.

"You want our help, and this is how you ask," I said. "Get stuffed."

Something like that anyway.

I can tell you I sure wasn't too happy about this storm.

I developed a nasty shin splint on my right leg by lunchtime Friday, and it only went away because I started noticing other pains, such as my arthritic left knee with the perpetually torn meniscus, and my cold, cold feet.

It was today before I got some anti-inflammatory pills, so we'll see if that makes it all better.

The bright side is we only got 30 or 40 centimetres of snow. New England got dumped by more than 90. There are communities in Connecticut that are digging out from more than 100 centimetres!

I am still getting too old for this crap.