Because I Can

I went shopping today, nothing special, just stuff I need for personal care, like some Dark Rum and some Spiced Rum. So much for cautious budgeting this month. Nonetheless, shopping has an almost entirely different function in my life than it has in so many others. This seeming chore is an opportunity for me, a chance to get out of this four walled, snow-bound prison in which I am held captive by the whims of weather for much of the winter. I get to go outside, breathe the sharpened air, feel the chill wind on my face, the rest of me appropriately covered to withstand Calgary's unpredictable shifts in temperature and precipitation.

Going out in the winter is enough of an adventure on its own, with the cold and snow. It is, however, made exponentially more difficult by the inanity of our fair city's street and sidewalk clearing policies. The city demands that residents clear the sidewalks in front of thier homes, on pain of a substantial fine. On the other hand, Calgary exempts itself from the self-same policy on sidewalks crossing public land such as parks and medians on corners.

The city has 850km of "pathways" but only clears 400km of them, apparently none in my neighbourhood. On top of that, while Calgary is diligent in clearing major roads, it waits for a Chinook to melt the snow and ice on less travelled roads. Many stretches of less traveled road are subject to the vagaries of shadow and wind, such that they remain icebound all winter, often well into spring.

Use the sidewalks, you say! Sure, except that same policy for sidewalks in front of residences and businesses does not apply to the wheelchair cut outs, if there are any, along the various sidewalks and medians. On top of this clear impediment to access, the city's highly efficient snow clearing system instead plows snow into these cutouts, making near impassable berms at the corners where streets are plowed and where locals have done a reasonably decent job of clearing sidewalks.

Those heaps of snow at the end of a sidewalk can make passage nearly impossible. On a great many attemps, such as today, I am forced to rely on the help of fellow Calgarians to rescue me from these snow banks after I have tried to make it across the street. When I hit them I usually plow in, shoving snow up onto my wheelchair footpads and over my shoes, further freezing feet and toes already suffering from poor circulation and lack of movement thanks to ALS.

So into all of this I go, sometimes taking sidewalks, braving the snowbank on the corner, sometimes taking the cleared sections of roadway, sometimes making a lane in the dirty snow, seeking the grip of gravel to move forward. The cars wait, drivers patiently seeing what I am attempting to do with rare complaint. There have been honks and I have returned those salutations appropriately.

I went out shopping today. I drove on sidewalks. I got stuck on wheelchair cutouts; my feet are still icy cold. Ordinary Calgarians stopped their cars, getting out to help me, regardless of traffic. At one point I was so deeply stuck I called 911. Before Calgary Police could get there, a group of locals in two separate vehicles saw me from the major thoroughfare of Shaganappi, turned around, drove through the local neighbourhood until they found me, then escorted me the three blocks past terrible sidewalks and roads, leaving me only when I assured them that the road was clear, or at least clear enough, ahead of me.

What did I buy? As noted earlier, Spiced Rum and Dark Rum, large bottles of each; groceries from Co-op, towels for pericare from Walmart. No true essentials unless you count the salad fixings and sour cream.

Why didn't I take the bus? I could have take Calgary Transit; that would have taken me about 40 minutes to do the run, almost the same as doing it myself. It would also have meant not really getting outdoors so much as moving from apartment to bus to store and reverse. The same could be said of Access Calgary, only it would have taken much longer than 40 minutes.

Why did I do it? Freedom! And because I can.