Coming from a place that does not know anything about snow the first winter in Montréal was quite something. I have learned some of the local customs over time but still have quite a lot of questions about the Quebeckers’ practices with snow.

First of all, shovelling snow is a dangerous activity.

Then as shown in the picture above, the snow that is shovelled from the walkway is not supposed to go on the lawn nor on the sidewalk but on the street to be collected by the snow plows. Why not on the lawn? Seemingly, the salt and the gravel are bad for the grass. Leaving the snow on the sidewalk is a no-no (but when removing snow from your car, it is kind of tolerated?).

To this day I am still wondering if I shovel enough but my neighbors’ have not complained so far.