It’s a snowy morning, and the world is mostly black and white. I appreciate the cheerful paint jobs on some houses, some of which are only visible in the winter when the bushes and trees lose their leaves.

When you get away from the main streets, the snow makes everything wonderfully quiet, just the crunch of your footsteps. However, downtown is noisier than ever… an astonishing assortment of snow removal devices invades our streets and sidewalks, from walk behind snow-blowers to pickup trucks with their plows on, to road graders dump trucks and earthmovers, and even a specialized, articulated sidewalk plow. Backup beepers and chugging engines are the order of the day.