After weeks of reading from Vancouver is Awesome that “Snow is coming!” and not seeing a bit of snow dropping, Sing in Can finally woke up to see light dusting on everything.
The forecast said that the snow would be washed away by the rain come afternoon, so I took comfort in the fact I got to see the snowscape despite having to wake up darn early in the morning to appear for work.
I also took a long and slow walk up my usual path (instead of taking the bus) to Kootenay Loop, and went into a trigger-frenzy.
Since my school was up in the North Shore mountains, the view up there was waayy better than what I walked through down in Vancouver.
And as expected, most of the snow was gone by the time I started my way back home after dark.
Saturday
The forecast told us Vancouverites to prepare for snow dump on Sunday, so I decided to make Saturday my hang out and study day. Even then, the wind still stung like bees.
On a side note, WH treated me to a piping hot dinner.
Sunday
I woke up the next day again to see a light blanket of white outside of the window. That being a Sunday, I decided to stay in the warmth of my house.
Near evening, I decided to go out to get some grocery from Safeway on Hastings in Burnaby, before the snow was forecast to fall again.
By the time I got onto the bus, it was already dark outside. In due time, I started wondering why I had not reached my stop. It was then I heard the announcement from the R5 speakers that my next stop would be “SFU Transportation Centre”.
哇特玛德发课？！
I had actually missed 4 stops and was on my way up Burnaby Mountain!
To think that I had earlier sent this article to WH taunting his desire to transfer to SFU: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sfu-gondola-snowfall Now I run the risk of being trapped on the mountain, should the buses stop running due to snow!
Karma is a bitch.
Since I was already up in Burnaby Mountain, I decided to take a stroll from Transport Centre to Transit Exchange. That would take me through their famous Academic Quadrangle. After all, SFU appeared in a number of movies, mainly sci-fi, for their brutalist architecture.
Read: https://604now.com/movies-filmed-at-sfu/
In between the time I wondered why SFU named 2 bus stops as though they were major transportation hubs, and the time I sat on the bus and took off my shoes to dry my feet, I did the following:
Got lost at the Transportation Centre, climbing up on flight of stairs only to find out that I had to take the other flight of steps.
Stepped into the 5cm deep powdery snow at the Academic Quandrangle, and wondered if my shoes would get wet from the snow, or from me accidentally stepping into the pond.
Crossed the length of the Academic Quandrangle, feeling like I was on the set of Gattaca, in the famous scene when Vincent gave Irene a strand of his hair and Irene replied, “Oops, the wind got it.” Even though that scene was filmed at Sepulveda Dam in California.
Stepped into darkness from Academic Quadrangle and into a puddle of water. After trying to keep my not-ready-for-snow shoes dry (I only wanted to get some groceries, remember?) till that time.
Oh well.
By the time I ended my grocery shopping, snow had started to fall, but so were my energy level. I decided to head home to snuggle in my bed rather than be out frolicking in the snow.
Monday
Monday was when the shit snow hits the fan.
Even the steps leading down to my basement suite was covered in half a foot of snow!
Again, I was out trudging through the snow before sunrise, before most people had cleared their sidewalks. Of course, I also took my own sweet time walking to the bus stop, by stopping to take pictures every other step.
It was particularly tough climbing up the last bit of slope to Hastings Street, since the path was already frozen. By the time I reached the bus stop, I was sweating inside. Don’t believe, come and check.
So, after stepping out into winter wonderland, my excitement turned into dread after 20 minutes, as I began to plough through slurry.
I mean, who overturned their Mocha Frappe at every other junction?
Buses were severely delayed and I almost could not get onto it! It was not to say, I was also late for work. Luckily for me, I could blame the snow and the bus (I was not late because I stopped many times to take pictures. No.).
Throughout Autumn, I found my campus beautiful, but just beautiful.
This morning, it was mesmerising. The street lamps were still on, so there was this bit of Hogwarts-ish charm to the whole campus.
After work, I chose to go home early instead of staying back to study in the library, because I wanted to play with snow my colleague warned me that I could get stuck in North Vancouver if it started snowing again.
It so happened that I missed my connecting bus, so I had to walk the last 1km back home.
And so started my 30 minutes of walking through snow and watching kids build snowman and had snow fight along the sidewalk.
Somehow, I had the compulsion to kick snow. I kicked it on Day 1 and I kicked the snow at least thrice on Day 3. I also felt the compulsion to step / jump into patches of undisturbed snow (though no video as evidence).
Tuesday
I had school despite the snow. Even worse, I had lessons that ended at 9pm. Due to the snow, the bus was super late. The whole lot of us were out waiting for the bus in the cold! Yup. Usually, we would wait in the building and go out to the bus stop nearer to the scheduled timing. Due to the bus delay, all of us were flown pigeons. And because the bus stop shelter was small, most of us were actually out in the snow.
Yes, it had already started snowing!
And it was also then that I realised that I didn’t wear enough to survive the cold at night!
By the time I reached the bus stop at Kootenay Loop, the snow had become heavier. My connecting bus was also quite some time away. I didn’t want to wait in the cold, so I trudged my way back home.
Interestingly, the light at the stadium of Hastings Park was turned on. I wondered if they did it on snow nights to help light the way? Because there couldn’t have been games in the snow! However, the falling snow reflected the stadium lights and what was supposed to be dark alleys were lit bright. That sort of helped me find my way in the dark too!
Wednesday
In the following days, school was finally closed due to the snow dump. I took the opportunity to go take a walk around my neighborhood.
Learning my lesson from last night, I made sure I was well protected from the cold. I mean, I was too vain to wear my snow cap and anti-slip boots to school, but I really didn’t want to be caught in the cold again!
It had snowed throughout the night and I opened my door to knee-deep snow! I had to kick the snow off the steps (I had no shovel) in order to climb my way out to street! On hindsight, had the snow persisted, I would have been trapped indoors (and I did not prepare for that stay at home lockdown!).
I went out to the direction of Hastings Park (read my exploration of the vast park in Spring). Unfortunately, my phone battery died in the harsh cold. I had to return to my house to grab the power bank. By then, it had started snowing again.
I decided to brave the snow, but explore the streets nearer to my house instead. The falling snow was real mesmerising and I ended up taking lots of videos instead.
Back home, I compiled all the photos and videos I took into a vlog instead.
Thursday
Although the snow had stopped the night before, the streets were still deep in snow. Luckily for me, buses across the river was still running, as I had classes.
It was really difficult to concentrate in class, as the light snow started to fall again halfway through the lesson. We were in the North Shore mountains after all. So the cold and snow persisted up there compared to the lower mainland.
The snow had stopped completely when my school ended, so I had a rather smooth journey back home. Sunset was early at that time of the year, so even though I had just dropped off my bus on East Hastings Street at 4pm, the sun was already hanging low on the horizon.
Everyone was still hiding from the snow, so plenty of empty spaces were “untouched”. Especially for the empty field between the bus stop outside McDonald’s (which was immediately after the bus crossed the Second Narrows Bridge from North Vancouver), which was beside the highway.
I managed to capture the sunset against the untouched snow field. It was a short moment, but it was beautiful. This shot also marked the end of the snowy season in Vancouver 2019. Which was the only snowy season I had lived through (not as a tourist).
The snow season that I had made the trip halfway around the globe to live for.
Parting Words
Trying to go to school and work with the snow was real tough. Unlike being a tourist, I couldn’t snuggle in the warmth at home when I wanted to. I had to be out in the cold at weird times due to the awkward knock off times. However, that was the experience I had wanted to go through.
And I did.
Truly no regrets!
Here are some of my photos of the same scenes, Autumn vs Winter. (Read my post on the splash of colours in Vancouver in Autumn) (Actually, I wrote more than one post on Vancouver in Autumn. There was also on about cloudy Vancouver)
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Till then, sing while you can!
Editor’s Note: This article was first posted on Sing in Can blog in 2019. It is now re-posted with edits on Live.Life.Love as SiC has closed down.