Hello, 2014!

Happy New Year! :)  I wish you a fabulous 2014. Many Torontonians were glad to see the back of 2013 because of the nasty ice storm we had just before Christmas. I knew the storm was bad when I lifted the blinds in my makeshift office and couldn’t see outside. All the windows at the back of the house were covered with ice.

My partner and I were fortunate. We lost power for all of twenty minutes overnight. Many people were without power for more than a week, and it was cold. One of our neighbour’s trees was bent over our cable line, but the line held. I think we were spared because most of the trees on our street are in backyards, whereas the power lines are out front.

The trees looked very pretty. Unfortunately, Toronto lost 20% of its tree canopy to the storm. Here’s a photo gallery that CBC Toronto put together:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/photos/ice-storm-hits-toronto-1.2473602

Our mayor Rob Ford provided regular updates throughout the storm’s aftermath and didn’t say anything embarrassing (for a change).

On another note, today the “O Canada” Spot-On kicks off at the Virtual Living Room. There will be giveaways! To enter, all you have to do is contribute to the conversation. To get in on the fun, you’ll first have to join the group, which you can find here:

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Virtuallivingroom/info

The Spot-On kicks off around noon EST and runs through Sunday. Come and join us!

Hello, 2014! is a post from: Sarah Ettritch