As a person born in Buenos Aires where I never did see snow except in photographs of the Andes or a rare snowfall in Mexico City at the higher Desierto de los Leones, snow has been something strange, wonderful and sometimes scary.

We (that includes my Rosemary) have trumpeted that silly (stupid) idea that it never snows enough in Vancouver to warrant the expense of winter tires.

My first experience with driving in the snow happened around 1977 when Rosemary and I in our Mexican-made Beetle drove by Vancouver’s back streets (my brilliant idea) from downtown to our Burnaby home. Driving on a parallel street to 12^th Avenue we went as far as we could until we reached Rupert. Then I turned to go down on Rupert. Our car slid down to meet up with about 12 others. We got out pronto before a dump truck slid down to hit the mass of cars. Our Beetle was totalled.

After other snowfalls we usually took transit but I must admit that I felt pretty confident in our Audis with Quattro drive and with all-season tires.

Now in 2017 I came up with the obvious fact that at age 75 our 2017 Chevrolet Cruze will be the last car I drive. I decided, then to buy four snow tires.

I was disappointed that it did not snow enough in December but I was happy with Friday’s snowfall. I took Rosemary around to her gig as a Mast gardener at the Home Show. I felt confident and looked at other drivers sliding with their all seasons as idiots!