I’m well into my second week as regional editor for Black Press, covering Arrow Lakes, Castlegar, Rossland, and the West Kootenay Advertiser.
I’m still recovering from my ascent and descent through the Kootenay Pass. It was fine until I found myself behind a semi that was having a very hard time, and then another, and then a snowplow. I was not in a rush — I kept my distance — but there were several white-knuckle moments as we slid around turns together, like an outtake from Tokyo Drift.
It makes my whinging about mandatory winter tires embarrassing in hindsight.
After only a few days, I managed to break my expensive car snow brush. Trying to wedge it through a foot of fresh snow on top of the car, it just snapped. I spent the next 15 minutes working with my old, small backup brush. I almost snapped as well.
I will say the snow-clearing and sanding efforts after the giant dumps of snow were very impressive. Once I conquered Mount Driveway on Monday morning, it was clear sailing.
Of course, I’m a born-and-raised Winnipegger, and I lived in Edmonton for four years, so all of this is relatively normal for me. I was out walking with my jacket open with bare hands during the cold snap, and onlookers likely thought I was not quite right.
While I’ve not strayed far from my suite over the first week or so, I have toured downtown. The Sculpturewalk looks very interesting, at least covered in snow. I look forward to returning for a longer visit in the spring.
In a past life, I was a competitive curler in Winnipeg and Edmonton. Well, to be clear, I didn’t actually win anything beyond secondary trophies in the annual Manitoba Curling Association bonspiels, but I tried. In an even older past life, I played hockey at a high level. With any luck, I’ll find my curling and hockey gear and tryout for some local old-timer’s team and get back to the action. If you take me up on that offer, know that we’ll need a large can of WD-40 to work out the rust.
I joined reporter Betsy Kline for my first Castlegar council meeting Monday night, to get a feel for the issues and meet the mayor and council. While I’ve read up on the major news makers of the area in preparation for taking over the editor’s chair, it was helpful to put faces to names and hear what council had to say in person.
The delegations were well-prepared and delivered much in the way of meaningful background to council for deliberation.
Mayor Lawrence Chernoff ran a tight meeting.
With clear roads, I plan to attend meetings in Nakusp and Rossland in the near future.
I recommend anyone with an itch to learn more about civic politics to attend council in their municipality at least once a year.