re: #22 The Very Reverend Battleaxe of Knowledge

Born and raised here—every time I see one of those Spanish-style houses (and there are more of them than you might expect) I shake my head.

Of course, any house with a flat or shallow-pitch roof is stupid here to begin with.

About a decade ago Toronto was hit with a huge snowstorm. About a meter (3 feet) in 36 hours. Being a good neighbour I helped some of the people on the street with their shovelling.

One of those neighbours had a newer home. The developer had bought two lots, torn down the original houses and put in six where two had been. So the design of the houses was; garage in front, rest of the house in two floors behind it with a narrow walk between fence and garage to the front door. The area between the garage and the street was mostly driveway with a small ‘garden’ to one side.

Well, I had no place to put the snow. The walkway ended up with a path shoulder wide with the snow piled up shoulder high against the fence. The ‘garden’ ended up with snow piled higher than I could shovel. Two and a half meters (eight feet). I ended putting it on the road for the cars to run over and spread around as slush.

You have to wonder about someone who designs houses not meant for snowy climates.