When my son and I arrived in July of 2004, I knew it was only a matter of time before the seasons would change and we would be heading into our first Canadian winter.
Coming from England, as a child I remember some winters where we had a lot of snow, but nothing like Canada, by English standards.
So I prepared myself … I bought a snow shovel, snow pants, gloves, boots and hats for us both.
However, nothing could prepare me for the first really heavy snowfall. Don’t get me wrong, it was exciting as I had never seen so much snow in my life, and being a keener, the first hour was fun.
But, once we stopped and I realized we would need to clear a path to get the car out, it was a different matter.
So, I started to shovel the snow, and realized this was a real workout and there was a technique to it. Thankfully, my neighbour told me not to shovel it so high, but to flatten it. Who knew!
We lived on a quiet street in the north end of London Ontario, an area known as Whitehills. It’s a great family neighbourhood, with tree-lined streets and beautiful green space from Snake Creek and surrounding area. It has 2 access points to the Medway Valley Forest Trail, a 7.2 trail that hugs the Medway Creek and offers hours of easy hiking and getting back to nature with family, friends and your 4-legged companions.
It has a skating arena, a local branch of The London Public Library and The Canadian Games Aquatic Center, which houses an Olympic size swimming pool with diving and swimming lessons for all levels. The Museum of Ontario Archeology calls Whitehills its home as well. The Northwest London Resource Centre serves Northwest London as a community connector, hub for youth programming and advocate for the needs of the neighbourhood.
The public schools include Emily Carr, St. Marguerite D’Youville, Wilfred Jury and Sir Frederick Banting and St. Andre Bessette are the choices for secondary schools.
Shopping is plentiful locally at Sherwood Forest Mall and close by at Masonville Place, which offers an extensive selection of chain and boutique stores. Costco is just a stones throw away.
Our home was a semi-detached bungalow, which was as big upstairs as it was in the basement. So, lots of storage! And it was an affordable starter home for our first foray into real estate in London Ontario. It was a great place to raise my son.
So, back to my snow shovelling escapade!
After a couple of hours, the mountain of snow was neatly piled up and it was done. It snowed again that night and I was back at it the next day. Not my favourite thing to do, but I embrace it and treat it as my winter work out.
Seventeen years later and I’m still in awe at the winters we have here in our beautiful city of London Ontario.