When nice turns nasty
Have you ever tried to do something nice and it backfires?
That describes my life yesterday.
I arrived home from Kitchener to find a foot of snow covering our driveway. Driving through it would have been impossible so I parked at the bottom and trudged my way up. After a fleeting family greeting I donned my winter gear and proceeded to the tractor.
Since most people shovel or use walk-behind snowblowers, allow me to describe what snow removal looks like chez Mills. I drive a tractor. Backwards. Downhill. And all the while, wind whipped snow pellets are blown high enough to boomerang back and freeze on my face.
It’s not as bad as it sounds. It can be a welcome change from working with negative people.
As is my custom, I blew out my neighbours’ driveway. They don’t have a blower or a shovel so its an easy way to help them out.
It was my turn for mailbox duty. On our road the mailboxes are grouped together so everyone takes a turn removing snow from around them. That’s when things took a nasty turn.
Picture this: a guy who spends more time using conditioning shampoo than driving heavy machinery, guiding a 6-foot snowblower and a diesel tractor around the neighbourhood mailboxes.
Not pretty.
I must have steered a bit too close to the last mailbox because my rear tire brushed it sending the box and 2 feet of lumber cascading into the snowbank.
I felt like an idiot. I probably looked like one too.
I walked apologetically up my neighours’ freshly blown driveway to his front door. He was gracious, forgiving and he wouldn’t accept my offer to pay for the damage.
Next time, I think I’ll use my shovel.
