And speaking of shovelling

Anyone who has lived in an urban area with heavy snowfall knows the joy of finding a place to shove(l) it.

Back alleys? Mounds of snow against fences, ridges of ice chunks from the plows. Front yards? Mounds of snow in the yard, on the boulevards, beside the sidewalk. And it's not all pretty and white and fluffy, oh no. It's heavy, and dirty, and chunky, and icy, and full of sand and salt and the detriment of city streets.

Not my back alley, but you get the idea.

The landlady is - to put it gently - a bit particular about where the snow lands. I've been informed - multiple times - to only put "clean white snow" on the small grassy area beside the parking pad. Why? Well, the dirty snow hurts the grass roots.

Now, I can understand being a bit particular about the yard. Really. But there's NO OTHER PLACE to put the snow!

The alley - full. The side of the parking pad - 10 feet high and still climbing (in March!). The opposite side of the alley - also full.

I've gotten to the point where it's easier to just drive on the snow and pack it down, rather than trying to shovel it anywhere and face the wrath of putting it in the wrong place. Unfortunately, that meant that the last time the back alley was plowed, they scraped through inches of ice and left me with a "curb" to conquer. It was approximately a foot and a half high. (Side note: yes, I'm Canadian, and yes, I use metric. Mostly.)

So, I'm chipping away at the ice, trying to build a ramp out of it so I can park my car, and who comes out of the house, arms flailing? Uh huh.

"Don't put ANY of that on the grass!"

Lady, if I see grass anytime soon, I assure you I won't put snow on top of it.