I’m gonna give it to you straight, here: I fell on the walk to work twice on Monday. TWICE. That’s at least one more time than I normally trip, slip, run into something or otherwise injure myself in the run of a day and I managed to complete this in less than 15 minutes on my walk to work. The sidewalks in downtown Halifax? They were fucking treacherous, to say the least.

But it’s winter, and that’s kind of what happens. (Sorry.) (No I’m not.)

Every day, my news feed is overwhelmed by angry tweets and Facebook messages urging snow removal crews and the local bodies responsible for snow removal/ street cleaning to “do their jobs” and it makes me mad. Because they’re doing their jobs. I’d argue that in the vast majority of cases, like 99 per cent of them, the snow removal crews really are doing the best they can.

Salt is useless in the extreme cold we’ve been having. They’ve run out of places to put the snow. And they sure as hell can’t widen the street when your goddamn car is parked on it. Ass.

Commuters and pedestrians are frustrated and I get it. I really do. I commute from the ‘burbs and then walk across the downtown core because my parking lot and my son’s preschool are on one side of town, and my office is on the other. I’ve slid into an intersection with my car, only to slip-slide down Barrington Street. While stomping down the sidewalk, I’ve climbed over the same snowbank I can’t see around when I need to make that right-hand turn, and it sucks but it’s really nobody’s fault.

Be safe. Be sensible. Have a little compassion.

The men and women on those snow removal crews want the same things we do. Let’s not be the assholes who deprive them of respect, make their jobs harder or worse, risk their lives by acting recklessly and selflessly this winter. It’s almost over, K?