Man in the Snow

Yesterday was a very amusing day, protester-wise. We've been having some crazy weather lately - as is our wont, here in New Brunswick in the winter. It was very cold for a while, and then it snowed a LOT (like four snowstorms in two weeks or something crazy like that), and then it got a little cold, and now it's unseasonably warm. So around the clinic we have huge piles of snow and lakes of melted ice (water, for the unscientific among you). It is awkward to walk around because you know your socks are going to be wet no matter what.

The advantage it gives us is that the boundaries of the clinic are completely covered in huge snowbanks, and further surrounded by rather big, deep puddles of water. So there is not much room for the protesters to stand. In fact, the only place they could reasonably stand is on the sidewalk out front, but to block the sidewalk would be playing a dangerous game, since they are trying not to be too obtrusive (what with the bubble zone fuss and all).

So yesterday morning we had the delightful vision of a lone protester perched on top of a snow bank several feet down the block from the clinic, deftly staying balanced while holding up his bright yellow sign. I don't care how strongly you believe in your cause, when you're the only person out protesting on a winter morning and you have to clamber on top of a snow bank to do it, you have to think there's something wrong there. Of course, he was joined later by Father Grim and the Holy Ghost, who both chose wandering back and forth trying to avoid the puddle over standing in the snowbank.

I was glad to be provided with some entertainment as we had a couple of new escorts starting today. However, the escorting itself was made pretty straightforward by the inability of even the Holy Ghost to get close to the patients' cars. I'm sure if Crazy Legs had been out she could have managed it, although I'm afraid (and relieved) that while the bubble zone stuff is going on, we won't be seeing too much of Crazy Legs.

It was much warmer this week so I hope for the sake of the escorts that this weather continues. Although we do have four boxes of toe warmers, so really I guess it's win-win.