Last winter nature was kind enough to leave us with a less-than-normal-for-Ottawa snowpack. We did have what appeared to be the usual number of snow events, but they were unspectacular. Light enough so that it could easily be shovelled by hand, not requiring the use of the snowthrower, so it was mostly left to languish, unused, in the garden shed. This year, there's been a return to what is always called a 'normal' Ottawa winter, when we become buried under a sizeable snowpack.

Ottawa Sun

With winter storms that dump considerably more than 20 cm. of snow at a time. So this year, it quickly became established -- beginning in November, actually -- that Environment Canada's late autumn heads-up warning that we were in store for more snow, deeper cold than usual, soon morphed into reality. And the snowthrower, used far more frequently this year, has been parked inside the garage, in between and in back of the two vehicles that my husband drives, ready for use.

The municipality has found itself in a bit of a quandary, actually, with the realization that the annual snow budget has vastly surpassed itself, leaving the city with a $21.5-million deficit for snow removal activities. There was a three-day storm that blew in as the 2013 year was wrapping up, preparing to usher 2014 in, in royal style that cost $11.7 to clean up.

That single event had dumped over 41 cm. of snow, 18 mm of freezing rain and topped it all off with about 5mm of rain. Municipal workers were kept busy clearing the bus Transitway, arterial roads, collector roads and city sidewalks. They eventually made their way to residential streets. Somehow it always seems to the residents of the street we live on, that we somehow have offended the powers that be, to the point where they leave our street to the very last.

A sentiment no doubt lingering in the minds of quite a large number of other city residents living on other residential streets who resent having to slosh through the impassable morass of swampy dark snowpiles, trying to balance inside the ridges left by passing cars, themselves swerving and slipping down the unholy mess.

Complaints? None, why would there be any? This is winter, after all, in the second snowiest, coldest capital in the world. We have no wish whatever to urge Ulan Bator, Mongolia, to move over and leave the record of first-place to us.

Truth is, we've had far snowier winters than this one, although the cold temperatures could moderate with a sense of decency; their lingering effects haven't endeared this winter to people anxious to get out and make the most of winter recreation.