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my father called me last night asking if i could help him shovel snow off of the restaurant1 roof. so when i woke up this morning he came by to pick me up. we weren't clearing the whole roof, just one large section that my father said was built a while back that might've predated some construction safety codes (hence a greater chance of collapsing). we were up a little bit over a single story, so if i fell of the roof it wouldn't necessary kill me but i would break a few bones. the roof had a slight slope but it was relatively flat. the snow was more than a foot deep, with an icy crust that had to broken before we could get to the snow underneath.

i shoveled for about an hour, successively opening up one jacket layer after another. my eyes started to hurt from staring at the blinding whiteness. i threw the snow over the side of the roof, where later my father cleaned it up with a snowblower. when it finally came time for me to get down, i was tempted to jump off the roof and onto the big snow pile nearby, but decided against it because i knew there were some wooden stakes buried below.

my father gave me a ride back noontime. i took home a box of curry rice noodles and some watermelon for lunch. watching the local news, it seemed to be wall-to-wall coverage of roof collapses. apparently clearing snow off of the roofs was today's most talked about activity.

the rest of the day was spent drinking hot cocoa, working in my home office, and doing a few loads of laundry. i also listened to the latest news on the egyptian crisis. in the evening i had some oven-toasted french bread pizzas for dinner.


1 not the cafe, which we checked last week and has an okay roof, but the nearby restaurant (of which my great uncle own's the property, so my father helps out with things like shoveling the sidewalk and the occasional roof clearing).