Winter Preparations = Queues, Queues, Queues!

After the recent traitorous drive through the mountains we decided that we needed to get our winter tires brought and put on the car so Nige went to Costco to order them. This week we had the call that they were ready and that we could either make an appointment for a few weeks time or queue up early in the morning in order to get an appointment that day.

As I was off today we decided that I would get up at 4am in order to be there at 4:30am. When I arrived I was 10th in the queue with the first person arriving at 3am!!!!! What the salesman didn't tell Nige was that I would be queueing outside until 7am unless someone arrived early!

Thankfully due to the large number of people queueing each morning someone arrived at 6:15am and handed out tickets to the first 15 inline (thank goodness I didn't arrive 15 minutes later as I wouldn't have got in that day), we then got to come back at 7am when the manager arrived in order to book our appointment, so not only had I already queued for nearly 2 hours in the cold, but we had to either wait til 7am or come back again!!! So I decided to nip home to warm up and then return again at 7am. So at 7am I arrived back, queued for another 20 minutes and managed to book the car in for midday.

So again I returned home for a quick breakfast and made my way back at 10:30 to pay and drop off the car, another hour spent queueing, (thats 3 hours 20 minutes in total so far today!)

After the car was ready Nige had finished work so we met up and headed off to get an oil and filter change on the car. Here they have drive-thru garages so we queued up (AGAIN) in order to get that sorted (another hour queueing, 4 hours and 20 minutes in total!)

Now that car was winter ready we decided that we were next. We had originally decided that this year we were going to just hire out ski/snowboarding equipment, but with the average price around £18 a day we decided that it may be better to invest in our own so we we headed for a three day new and used ski sale in calgary.

I had spoken to a few people in work about the Sale and was told to get there early as the first day is very popular, so as it was due to open at 5 we made our way early to arrive at 4pm. When we arrived however we weren't the only people that knew to arrive early and there were already about 100 people in front of us. So we got in line and eventually after queueing for about an hour and 30 minutes (5 hours 50 minutes in total now!) we entered the sale.

The sale consists of ex demo stock, used and ex-rental skiing and snowboarding equipment all arranged into sizes. The sale was at one of Calgary's ice rinks that had been covered over for the sale and was basically a bit of a free for all as everyone rushed to get the bargains in their size. There were a lot of volunteers around that could answer any questions you may have and give you some advice with your choices. After a couple of hours of selecting and trying on Nige had found a snowboard, two sets of bindings and two pairs of boots. I had found Skis, boots and poles. So now it was off to QUEUE in order to pay. After 1 hour and 10 minutes we got to the till and paid for our goodies......£340 what a bargain.

So today was a day spent queueing, 7 HOURS! worth, but at least we are all set for the cold Canadian winters!