Heavy snow across southwestern Ontario today, and Stratford is choked. I was halted at the mouth of my driveway this morning, ready to turn into the street, when a man on foot wallowed up to the car and banged on the bonnet. I opened the window (snow swirling in), and asked, "You wanted to speak to me?" He said, "The roads are terrible! For your own safety, stay home!"

Reader, I went to the Y anyway. Getting home was a cute trick, however, and the only way back into the garage was nose-first; if I had tried to back in, as I usually do, the car would have stuck fast in the icy windrow left by the passage of the road plow. (It's a VW Golf, so it's front-wheel drive.) A glance at the weather radar map tells me this situation will prevail for several hours yet.

I had intended to hit the supermarket. I'm out of avocados. (How's that for a 21st-century First World problem?)