Saturday, February 02, 2008

Plowing through

Tomorrow will be day 6 I have made use of my snow tires! Yes, it has continued to snow and no, they still haven't really plowed much. All the streets except the highway are packed snow. As I was reminiscing great snows I have enjoyed I could not help but reflect on the great snows we had in Montreal. Now Montreal knows how to clean a street. I know I have tried to explain the process to people, but could never fully explain, nor could anyone who hasn't seen it fully appreciate the choreography of large machinery that is snow removal in Montreal. It was amazing and ALWAYS entertaining. Now through the miracle of Youtube I can now share that with you.
If I may quickly set the stage... there will be a heavy snow fall, then a truck with a bright flashing light comes down your street honking his horn alerting you to move your vehicle because the snow removal crew is coming. If you do not move your vehicle, you are towed!! Then come the little army of small plows, pushing the snow off the sidewalks etc.into piles on the road, then come 2 graders that push the snow into one huge snowbank, then comes the cool machine that sucks up the snow and dumps it in the truck to be hauled away, followed by another huge truck to take over once the first truck is full, and bringing up the rear is another small plow just to tidy up, and voila, no more snow!! It is so cool!
The best video I could find has german subtitles, but you get the idea (it's about 2 min.)

2 comments:

Christie said...

THAT IS SO COOL!! Having grown up in Alberta.... I am just stunned, what a cool sucker thing!

brittany said...

we are in serious need of some of those snow plows! i love the one that goes down the sidewalks too.