Dear Editor,
I was returning from Wingham to our home north of town (about 8 km) a few weeks ago about 8:15 p.m. With the snow coming down pretty heavily, I drove by the cemetery and noticed an OPP cruiser parked in the entrance. “Strange place to park on a stormy night,” I thought.
A few minutes later, conditions became much worse, a total whiteout with no visibility at all. For fear of someone hitting me head on, I thought I’d better keep to the right side of the road. I guess I got over too far, because I was soon sliding down into a dry ditch on that side. Luckily, I had stopped a few feet short of a sturdy fence post. I didn’t have a cellphone, so I put the flashers on and proceeded to walk back to the cemetery. The cruiser was still there and I asked the officer if I could borrow his cellphone. I phoned CAA and gave them the approximate location (no intersections or 911 numbers known!). The CAA person said the wait time was 149 min. I used his phone to let my wife know I’d be delayed and then went back to the car to wait it out. The OPP officer very kindly gave me a ride. Several people, including a couple on snowmobiles, stopped to see if I was okay. The next thing I recall is someone was pounding over and over on a window. I woke up to hear tow truck owner Barry Bushell asking me to put the car in neutral. Soon I was on my way home, arriving at 10:30 p.m. No damage done and none the worse for wear. It really impressed me that so many people stopped to help. (This was repeated again several days later when a neighbour got stuck in our driveway. A young couple stopped and helped pull him out with their pickup).
Every day we hear reports of awful atrocities around the world, but things like this restore your belief in the basic goodness of most people.
Brent Bowyer
North Huron
