And so we come to the end of another year.
I think back over 2022 and, surprisingly, there isn’t much that stands out for me.
There are some moments – the death of Queen Elizabeth II, B.C. getting a new premier without holding an election, the ability (mostly) to gather in groups again for the first time in a few years – but no single defining moment.
What I think most people in Prince George may remember from this year is how we got almost a full year’s worth of weather in the last month. December started off reasonably nice, then turned ridiculously cold, then had some snow, then got up close to freezing again.
How cold was it? I’m glad you asked.
Apparently we’re going to hear a lot of swearing when it warms up in the spring, as the words people used to describe the cold finally thaw out and become sounds again.
On the more realistic side of what happened, I heard of someone whose car battery didn’t start one morning, so they called BCAA and were told they were so backed up, it would be about four hours before they could get to them.
Forty minutes later, the BCAA truck pulled up and got their battery going again.
Turns out because so many of the calls were ‘just’ for a battery jump, the BCAA crews were able to get through them faster than usual. No tows meant no travel times getting the vehicle to a garage or whatever.
The one thing I learned years ago is that if your battery dies and you get a jumpstart, don’t say, “That’s great. We’re ready to go again,” and then turn off your car.
Always let the car run for about 15 minutes to give the battery a chance to store up some juice again.
How did I learn this lesson? Let’s just say having to get two jumpstarts in about 15 minutes one cold morning engraved it into my mind.
Of course, it wasn’t just Prince George that got a weather smack in the last week or so. Most of the province was experiencing either very cold temperatures or larger amounts of snow than they were used to.
Coming right before Christmas, it probably spoiled a fair number of people’s holiday plans.
The best of the holidays to everyone, and I’ll see you next year.