Last Updated on: 24th December 2022, 01:21 pm
Everybody, sing along!
Having gridlock Christmas was almost my experience. The plan was to head out today and head for Mom and Dad’s place, about 300 miles away. But because the roads still sound like they suuuuuuuck, we decided to head out tomorrow.
This decision was made with no help from the folks at 570 News, who didn’t manage to have a speck of local news for us in Kitchener. No traffic, no weather, jack diddly squat! Thank goodness Rogers thought enough of Toronto to have live stuff coming out of 680 news, but that coverage won’t tell me the state of things in Kitchener, or between Kitchener and Toronto. It said things were improving, but there was a lot of talk of “0 visibility.” and “high winds.”
So I decided to call one of our local cab companies and ask if they were up for driving from here to North Toronto area where my brother is. They told me that it was up to the driver. Some are willing, but it’s their decision whether they’d take a trip like that. Then the dispatcher proceeded to tell me it’s safer to stay home. The cabs, the ones that never seem to be off the roads, encouraged me to stay home! Um, eek. I think that holds a lot of weight.
Since I couldn’t find any other reliable information, Barb went to Reddit and asked on the local Kitchener feed and soon got loudly told that I should stay the fuck at home. So I felt better about persuading my brother that we should make the trip tomorrow.
But for future reference, I learned about a website and Twitter account that totally slipped my mind for tracking road conditions. I will definitely keep that in mind for the next time the all news all the time websites decide that all of the time isn’t really a fair description.
If there is a big button-pushing dude upstairs, he kind of saved my ass this year. Usually, we take the train home and sometimes we go back on the train. But because I made the decision to go home at a point where trains were barely available, I asked to drive with family and then come back to Kitchener on the train. If I had gone from Kitchener on the train, I might still be stuck in Cobourg now. I know this train was Toronto bound, but eventually, they got stuck in both directions.
I still have hope that I’ll get home to see my folks if we leave tomorrow. It’ll be kind of nostalgic travelling on Christmas Day because we would always make the trip to my grandma’s place on Christmas Day when we were kids. Thankfully I won’t have to turn around and go back the next day. That’s what we used to do. Yug! I don’t know how my folks did that.
This year, I’m regretting not buying this charming children’s book for the nephews. It would have been funny watching my brother reading them a book called “Hookers and Blow Save Christmas.” My poor sister in law would have been mortified, at least until she realized it was all about a snow blower and a tow truck. I might also get disowned…hmmm…still. Would it be worth it? I’ll never know! But that book would have been very appropriate this year.
If I can get home and see Dad before his big surgery, I’ll be happy. And if it turns out that I can’t, then it is what it is. At least I can say I tried my best.
Everybody, stay safe. Let our good friends CTRL-SALT-DELETE, Clearopathra, and Melton John do their work. Merry Christmas, everybody.
I’m still shocked that a cab company told you not to give them money. That’s a first. Like you said, they’re always there no matter what. They shut down the buses, the trains, whatever, but you can still get a taxi. When I heard that, it told me all I needed to know about how things were going out there. I appreciate their honesty.
I can’t imagine being stuck on one of those trains. Not just for my own sake, but ug, the other people. I remember what it was like when we got stuck for a couple of hours that one time. Some of those folks were on the verge of losing their shit. That wasn’t anything close to the 18 hours some of these poor saps have been sitting there, plus it’s Christmas! No thanks. Happy to have avoided that.
Believe me, I’ve been thinking about buying that book for every kid I know since I heard about it. I wonder if they sell it at Mastermind. I’d love for you to walk in and ask. If you’re really worried about what anyone thinks about it, just tell them it’s from me.