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[caption id="attachment_10540" align="alignnone" width="497"] The scene as I was getting up: unusual snow and the typical snarl of poorly-driven SUVs.[/caption]

Thick fluffy snow has been falling steadily at least since I got up early this afternoon. Because the temperature has stayed above zero the snow has only been finding a foothold on lawns, parked cars and garbage bin lids; it hasn't stuck to roads or sidewalks.

[caption id="attachment_10541" align="alignnone" width="497"] This bottle depot has spare shopping carts for binners. Why aren't the boys taking this one?[/caption]

I skipped my usual weekday morning coffee because it was Saturday and I'd slept right through the morning. Instead I made my way through the snow to the bottle depot. The trip was uneventful; the snow was no more inconvenient than a light chunky fog.

The bottle depot wasn't very eventful either. When I arrived at Go Green there were only six other binners there -- at 4 p.m. on a Saturday afternoon! The staff watched the big open entrance of the bottle depot and complained about the snow.

Any port in a snow storm

[caption id="attachment_10542" align="alignnone" width="497"] As I was leaving these three binners were arriving, like cargo vessels in port.[/caption]

Even with the wait for welfare cheques a week longer than usual, a lot of binners who would otherwise be scrambling for every nickel's-worth of a bottle they could find today still preferred to avoid the snow. Chickens!

Consequently every one of us at the depot seemed to have a decent haul of bottles. Good for us.

[caption id="attachment_10544" align="alignnone" width="497"] Snow falling on the southeast edge of Jonathan Rogers Park.[/caption]

Now I wanted a coffee -- a very large one -- and I wanted to get back to the Fairview neighbourhood following an optimal route, factoring in both travel time and picturesqueness.

The route I chose took me south past Jonathan Rogers Park and up the hill one block past West Broadway Avenue.

For the rest of my trip west I followed 10th Avenue, the northern border of the huge area that comprises the Vancouver General Hospital. Along the way I ran into the famous wheelchair athlete Rick Hansen but that's a story for another post.

Otherwise the entire stretch from Cambie to Oak Street was almost deserted.

[caption id="attachment_10546" align="alignnone" width="497"] Snow against the East Wing Pavilion of Vancouver City Hall on 10th Avenue.[/caption]

I can't say a word against the snow today. It had most of the picturesque qualities one wants in snow with none of the annoying accumulation and slipping and sliding or any nonsense about freezing cold. Of course Nature will have the last word.

The temperature was 1° Celsius when I started writing this post. Everything is so wet that if the temperature ticks down two degrees overnight then Vancouver could turn into one big skating rink by morning. Now I see that the temperature is already down to 0° C.

Vancouver may get icing penalty for watching gold medal hockey

If the roads freeze up early Sunday morning many Vancouver residents may have a rare opportunity to experience the black ice as they make their way to a sports bar or pub to watch Team Canada play Sweden in the gold medal game in Men's hockey at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Pubs and bars in British Columbia are being allowed to open early for for the gold medal game, which begins at 4 a.m. our time. Unfortunately no one's allowed to serve alcohol until 9 a.m. Click the images to enlarge them.

[caption id="attachment_10550" align="alignnone" width="497"] Last block on 10th before Cambie has one eastbound lane for cars flanked by bike lanes.[/caption]