I have no idea who this guy is but he was certainly in the right place at the right time.
I had driven out to Mission for lunch with my partner – normally about a 20-minute drive, NASCAR-style. Leaving Maple Ridge, the roads were wet, salted and bare, so quite passable. This Little Old Lady from Pasadena was bopping along nicely at just over the speed limit – until Silverdale, about two-thirds of the trip. Here everything stopped – the salt trucks, the snowplows, the sane drivers – and the snow began. True to my NASCAR style, I kept on going – not recklessly, but confidently and safely, of course. I arrived in Mission and got in the left turn lane to head up Wren Street. Wren is very steep. It’s not a particularly major road and on this occasion it featured a number of Mario-Kart wannabes spinning out and sliding down backwards. I quickly thought better of it and went straight from the left turn lane. Yes, it was in front of the police station, but they would have had to push the cruiser out the snow if they really wanted to come and catch me.
Hurd Street is the next one up the hill. Although twisty, it has the advantage of a hospital at the top, so it had been ploughed and salted thoroughly. As far as the hospital, anyway. After that the Mario Karters took to the streets again and I had an interesting time for the last few blocks. However, front-wheel drive prevailed and I landed roughly where the driveway was supposed to be. It was hard to tell under 35cm of beautiful soft powder. I rocked back and forth a bit to make it easier to start out later – not that it helped, because after a mere half hour my exit trails were covered.
We did get out, though, and headed down Cedar – a major street – to do some shopping. That was uneventful enough, fortunately. We returned home, but this time my parking was a little heavy on style and rather light on forethought. Translation: a four-wheel slide into deep undisturbed powder means you’re going to need to do some digging to get out.
I got in the car and started rocking it, Lorraine started digging and pushing, and just about then this front-end loader comes rocketing up the street. No Mario Karter he – this was Grand Theft Auto in the flesh.
He screeched – well, slid – to a stop, swung into the driveway and spent the next fifteen minutes clearing it. He scooped, he spun, he tossed, he turned, he scraped, he turned 360s on the spot, he got away with four-wheel slides into deep undisturbed powder. He had at least as much fun doing the driveway as we did watching him open-mouthed. Never a word was said. At the end of it he honked and rocketed off up the hill.
I have no idea who this guy is but he was certainly in the right place at the right time.