I lived In Halibrton Ontario (a few hours N.E. of Toronto) from 1970 to 1978 with a 1 year break when I went to College)
Winters were wonderful there. Living outside of town one could walk skii snowshoe skate and use snowmobiles on land and lakes and go for miles and not see anyone
Lots of snow and at times quite cold temperatures . As a teenager and young adult did not mind the temps, wear a snowmobile suit thick gloves and good boots would go out early morning and not come back inside for hours (Things have changed, being older now not something I enjoy now most times run from building to building etc to find warmth)
This winter reminds me of those days but is still not close to the snowfalls we had up there. It was the norm often at the end of June or so if you went into the forests there was still snow. The ice would start coming off the lakes mid April to May and one of the highlights was finding a section without ice and jumping in (what was I thinking?)
Being Cottage Country lots of Seasonal Cottages around. We used to spend some days going to some and shovelling snow off the roofs so they did not collapse under the weight 3 to 5 of Us off we went to do so. Some of the roofs were 15 to 25 or 30 feet or more off the ground. Always fun to dig the snow out from under peoples feet and watching them tumble off the roof. Always safe to do so there was always a fair amount of snow on the ground to cushion our fall. Course some days not a lot of work done we often spent a lot of time climbing up ladders to get back on the roof.
Knew folk who spent the winter snow plowing. Large pick up trucks with a back seat , 2 , 3 or so people with supplies would go out and often be gone for a week or more plowing 24 hours a day stopping only for gas . Tired? fall asleep in the back with the others continuing on plowing
One of my favorite times (though it caused mass chaos on the roads) was one major Ice Storm. Took 3 days to clear up the area Everywhere became a ice rink. Emergency Services only went out if serious and many just put on their skates on and went out on the roads fields lakes etc skating. Nothing like being on a larger lake doing this and hearing the ice crack and feel it shift. Safe to do so but quite disconcerting at times.
Major snow storms many had no choice but to go out. Driving folk would form mini convoys of cars to travel. At times doing 5 to 10 miles an hour or so if one went into the ditch or stuck or into a ditch the rest would hop out free them continue on til the next one did it. Was the norm there people did not to expect one to arrive on time if going to work etc. Part of living there people had to drive no matter what and at times it was like a party setting doing so. When you got where you were going would celebrate and hope it would be better when you left to go back
Now as a I said above if it's snowing now I usually hibernate and just look out the window at the winter wonderland. Sigh miss those times
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