We spent the morning shoveling snow as it snowed yesterday and overnight.
We didn't expect there to be so much snow, but there was. More than 2 feet of it, snow up to your thighs. Highest snow fall in 7 years!
The power went out last night for the whole estate, so there was heating or cooking in the neighborhood. And for another 180,000 houses in the state. The snow falls on trees, and the trees/branches collapse on power lines, and power goes out. Yes, unheard of in tropical singapore :)
We have a small gas stove (For steamboat) and managed to heat some water and make breakfast with that.
After K. had been shoveling the driveway for about an hour, our neighbor Maurie (who shares the same driveway) came out to talk to him. Maurie is about 70? and lives next door with his wife. When we are not around, he helps to shovel our side of the driveway, but today he had some physical issues that didn't allow him to help shovel. So K. worked hard to move a huge pile of snow covering both our driveways.
Soon, two of our neighbors (that we don't know) came over to help K, strong and tall people with lots of experience shoveling. They cleared the driveway in about an hour, sweating buckets, and one of our neighbors who had already done his driveway drove out and got coffee for everyone, and we didn't even know him. He also offered to share his groceries with us if we did not have any.
It was really nice of them all, and they even did it in good spirits, joking and chatting all the way. Shoveling is really tiring (i did it for less than an hour, k for about 4 hours), so its really generous of them to help so many people despite the cold and discomfort to themselves.
After we were done with our driveway, we noticed an elderly lady shoveling down the road. Another elderly gentleman was helping her, and at the rate they were going, I don't think they would have been able to clear their driveway any time soon with slower movements and not being able to shovel big amounts of snow. We went up to help them, and another young couple came and joined us, even before they had done their own driveway. We managed to clear it pretty soon since there were 4 of us and later went on to shovel the young couple's driveway. We noticed that the 2 other neighbors, who had helped us, were also helping others clear their driveways. Many hands make exponentially lighter work.
Soon, the power came back on at about 11am and you could hear people shouting down the road that the power was back.
We are back indoors now, getting hot drinks and showers. (K says his hands are shaking from all the shoveling) It is a blessing to have been helped and also to be able to help, and also to have electricity.
Upon getting back, we found that friends in different areas had called us. One still didn't have power and might be coming over tonight, and another was checking up on us to see if we were ok.
.
We didn't expect there to be so much snow, but there was. More than 2 feet of it, snow up to your thighs. Highest snow fall in 7 years!
The power went out last night for the whole estate, so there was heating or cooking in the neighborhood. And for another 180,000 houses in the state. The snow falls on trees, and the trees/branches collapse on power lines, and power goes out. Yes, unheard of in tropical singapore :)
We have a small gas stove (For steamboat) and managed to heat some water and make breakfast with that.
After K. had been shoveling the driveway for about an hour, our neighbor Maurie (who shares the same driveway) came out to talk to him. Maurie is about 70? and lives next door with his wife. When we are not around, he helps to shovel our side of the driveway, but today he had some physical issues that didn't allow him to help shovel. So K. worked hard to move a huge pile of snow covering both our driveways.
Soon, two of our neighbors (that we don't know) came over to help K, strong and tall people with lots of experience shoveling. They cleared the driveway in about an hour, sweating buckets, and one of our neighbors who had already done his driveway drove out and got coffee for everyone, and we didn't even know him. He also offered to share his groceries with us if we did not have any.
It was really nice of them all, and they even did it in good spirits, joking and chatting all the way. Shoveling is really tiring (i did it for less than an hour, k for about 4 hours), so its really generous of them to help so many people despite the cold and discomfort to themselves.
After we were done with our driveway, we noticed an elderly lady shoveling down the road. Another elderly gentleman was helping her, and at the rate they were going, I don't think they would have been able to clear their driveway any time soon with slower movements and not being able to shovel big amounts of snow. We went up to help them, and another young couple came and joined us, even before they had done their own driveway. We managed to clear it pretty soon since there were 4 of us and later went on to shovel the young couple's driveway. We noticed that the 2 other neighbors, who had helped us, were also helping others clear their driveways. Many hands make exponentially lighter work.
Soon, the power came back on at about 11am and you could hear people shouting down the road that the power was back.
We are back indoors now, getting hot drinks and showers. (K says his hands are shaking from all the shoveling) It is a blessing to have been helped and also to be able to help, and also to have electricity.
Upon getting back, we found that friends in different areas had called us. One still didn't have power and might be coming over tonight, and another was checking up on us to see if we were ok.
.
it is not fun yet fun! and indeed we make the difference in each other's lives. btw i dropped you sms on your sing line thinking you were still here : ) what you shared with me i will use to share with someone who is trapped in house with snow too. slim
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