College Highroad, December 19

Yesterday it snowed heavily and Vancouver traffic was the usual nightmare. Even though I don’t have to commute (and I am annoyingly smug about that), I find the snow distressing because of the damage it always does.

After meeting a friend for lunch, I returned to campus by bus. After making it up the big hill, the bus got stuck on the flat part of upper West 10th pulling away from the curb. The driver made us all move to the back of the bus to increase traction and then managed to escape the snow rut. As we crawled along University Boulevard I noticed the piles of broken branches under each of the trees.

This picture was taken just before turning on to my street. The snow was very heavy and wet and I could hear branches snapping. One of the lauryls was bent over (and will have to be cut off),  the Kousa in the front was split in two, and many of the lovely little evergreens in the back and the cedars on the side were bent over from the snow. I am going to wait until after Christmas to call the arborist to see what he can do.

In the meantime, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for 2013!