HEAVY SNOW PANICKED LOWER MAINLAND RESIDENTS.

Canada has a reputation around the world of being a cold land. In most of the country, winter starts in late October and ends in April. Heavy snowfall is a common occurrence, particularly in the eastern provinces.

Only on the west coast is snow a rarity. Many Canadian seniors retire to cities such as Victoria and Vancouver so they can escape the bitter cold. The climate of this region resembles that of the United Kingdom, being that the autumn and winter months are usually rainy.

In my Deliverance From Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) memoir, I recounted my first experience with the unusual snowfall that Vancouver received in December of 1964. Being eight years old, the white stuff that troubled adults was merely one of many natural wonders that God provided for my entertainment.

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Vancouver received plenty of snow that month. Because I was accustomed to several feet of it back home, this unseasonable weather seemed totally natural. The "Day Kids," those fortunate local students who went home each evening, and the grownups were very alarmed about the roads.

The snowfall did provide me one sublime experience. One morning, I came across a snow-covered part of the drainage ditch by the school. A strange roaring and gurgling noise came from it. I excitedly showed it to one of my friends. Instead of leaving it be, he stomped on it and ruined whatever made the sound. I felt as crushed as the snow bridge he destroyed. I vainly tried to reconstruct it but the stream kept washing the snow away.

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Deliverance from Jericho contains many more vignettes of what life was like in that government-run institution. These range from poignant experiences of homesickness to hilarious incidents of mischief. Click here to read more about this book and to order it. You may also e-mail me directly if the comment form doesn't work.