2 Friday, January 28, 2022brooklintowncrier.com Brooklin's Community Newspaper Proud to be a Brooklinite Since 2000. Published 24 times per year. Editor, Richard Bercuson 613-769-8629 editorofbtc@gmail.com Circulation 8000 Delivery via Canada Post Locally owned and operated. A publication of Appletree Graphic Design Inc. We accept advertising in good faith but do not endorse advertisers nor advertisements. All editorial submissions are subject to editing. For advertising information, contact: Email: mulcahy42@rogers.com Next Issue: Friday, February 11, 2022 Deadline: Friday, February 4, 2022 The indignity of being tertiary Sunday afternoon - Forecast says big snow coming. Seen that before. Brooklin gets wannabe storms. We all know the 407 berm softens weather patterns north of it. Unsure which government arranged that. Explains why we never experience the mighty dumps like in Ottawa. Snow coming? Really? Bring it on! Sunday night - It begins. Not flurries nor flakes which are at least pretty. Droplets. Many many. In garage, I prep snow brushes to clear off cars in the morning. Schools already closed. Whoa wait, what if the forecast is, um, exaggerated? Or wrong? That 407 thing, remember? Monday morning, 7:30 - Stretch. Coffee. Wee breakfast. Wife returns, breathless, from traipsing through deep snow to get the pooch to perform. Dog has done nothing. Snow is too deep. Too deep? In Brooklin? Looking outside. Cannot see our cars. Nor front porch. Nor most of the tree by the curb. Nor fire hydrant. I throw on layers, open garage door. A wall of snow. Now this, I mutter, is a right proper dump. Evidently the 407 berm has been breached. Snow brush for car is replaced by industrial push broom. Fervently hope no one calls in the army. Embarrassing. We can do this, people! 8:30 am - Been employing my shoveling technique for an hour. Learned it in Ottawa with a shared driveway three cars wide and 60 feet long. Don't lift; scythe. Sweeping arcs, like using a scythe to cut away brush, but launching small amounts of snow to wherever. Takes longer but saves the back and heart. In one hour, I clear a narrow path to the cars. Why, I cannot explain. Time to execute next phase. 9:30 am - What if we need to go somewhere…What if Amazon arrives…What if we want takeout…Where driveway meets road needs clearing. Careful examination of options leads to conclusion: push snow across the unplowed road and, with more long scything, heave onto park land. Another hour gone. Feet soaked. Path done. If I flip car on its side, I could squeeze it through. Why, I cannot explain either. 10 am - Exhausted. No sign of plows. Grab a coffee and check Whitby site. My street isn't primary or secondary. It's tertiary. Third best. Pride is bruised, perhaps irreparably. Roads in the lower east side are tertiary. I want desperately to complain to a councillor. I know some. I bet their streets aren't tertiary. But if I call, will I get the proverbial eye roll? Self-respect would be bruised as well as pride. Will contemplate complaint during the excessively long shower I've earned. Plus the nap. Afternoon - Snow has subsided. Cannot see over mountains on either side of driveway. The distant hum of snowblowers wafts across the snowy wasteland. I chisel away at snowbanks to allow us in and out. Why, I cannot explain. Someone drove down our tertiary road leaving a barely passable trough. Still no plow. Tertiary after all. Tuesday morning, 8 am - Energized, though dignity still smarting from being tertiary. Head outside again. Neighbour with snowblower has already started to widen my driveway. Good fella, that. Always move to a house next to someone with the right tools and equipment. Plow has been by. I now own a "windrow." Scything tougher but gradually there's an entrance to the plowed road. We do his then another neighbour's. Satisfying work. Embrace the snow, I say! Afternoon - Scythe other neighbours' paths. Go inside for a bite. Come out and admire the job. Cars cleared off. Decent path to door and sidewalk, albeit around a small mountain I couldn't be bothered shrinking. Skipped two days of workouts to deal with snowpocalypse. Just like the old days. Decide not to complain to councillors. Instead, will investigate if any Brooklin street is designated worse than tertiary. Quaternary. Then at least there was someone worse off. Less than half the picture by Richard Bercuson Brooklin TOWN CRIER.com Call us at 905-655-6200 to book your appointment Hitting the slopes this year? Did you know that Brooklin Optometric Centre offers prescription goggles?