How Can Snow Be This Troublesome When You're An Hour Outside of the Mountains?

This was one of those days. This morning, I had to get up and drive a few brochures for work to a section of the city that I have never been to. To prepare for this, I got a map and directions from the web, and prepared for it to be a least double the time it said on the paper (it being 7:30 am, and it being rush hour), low to my surprise, another factor would come into play - snow. Never said anything on the weather about snow, but when someone says it's snowing in a panic voice, I assume to be getting somewhere over 10 - 12 cm, not a brushing of snow.

Now, coming from Ottawa, where a few cm of snow is something we just shrug off, I'm still perplexed as to why it causes the city of Calgary to "lose it". They are an hour outside the mountains, and it seems that no one seems to know what this white stuff coming from the sky is. The radio station I had on in my car made it sound like a storm. So this was just one item of my trip. The 2nd major factor was because of some construction going on, they took down the sign name for the main street that I had to turn down. I was going against traffic, so time wasn't a big factor, but because of this wonderful mistake on missing signage, I had to drive 4 km out of my way, turn around to get stuck in traffic, and add 25 minutes to my trip. Due to the combination of rush hour and snow, people were speeding at a pace of 4 - 6 km/h, I almost couldn't keep up.

After dropping off the boxes (and being treated like a delivery guy who was getting in the way), I jumped back in my car from the parking lot by the building back to the parking lot on the streets. One item I have to learn in this city is shortcuts, and how to get to different areas with the least amount of slowdowns.

Not that I totally believe in conspiracies, but in luck (bad, good, dumb) - I do believe someone got in touch with some people in Calgary and told them if you are ever in front of a red Mazda, make sure you brake going through a green light - he likes it. Either that, or that same unknown bylaw exists in both Ottawa and Calgary. Nice to have somethings that remind you of home!