Sunday, November 09, 2008

First Snowfall

It snowed yesterday. The first snowfall of the year. Just some light powder.
I was looking through my photo albums the other day and was just looking at some pictures from my medical school days in Canada. I came across pictures of my first winter. We were up on the rooftop of the student dormitory, pathetically trying to make snow angels (it was only a 1 cm snowfall), laughing, playing, singing. At 12.15 am!
1998. Yup, this would be my 10th winter.
The first snowfall always seems as a shock to the system. Not so much because of the cold. But more so because you go to bed one day, only to wake up to a magical white winter wonderland. It's almost as though someone put you in a different, alien world while you were asleep. It's silent; no birds chirping, no sound of crickets. The snow buffers noise. Instead, on a heavy snow day, you almost hear the soft ruffling sound of the snow crystals falling.
It's God's gentle reminder to slow down. Enjoy the show. And it's a reminder that Christmas is round the corner.
This year, I suppose snow has another implication; sadly I had to put Claudia's hardtop up. It'll stay up for the rest of the year; no more driving to work with the top down. And today, I'll be taking her to the garage to have her Blizzak winter tires put in. Because she's light, and is rear-wheel drive, she'll need all the traction she can get and so I decided to get a 2nd set of wheels to mount the winter tires on. I'm just waiting for the day I get stuck in the snow, and have to trade in the Porsche for an SUV!
With the hardtop up

With the Blizzak LM25 255/45 R18 winter tires on

The summer tires in storage for the next 4 months