A letter to readers
Hello, readers.
This isn’t a letter to the editor.
This is a letter from the editor. Well, a letter from The Telegram, anyway.
We know it’s been a rough few days for many of you; some of you have been without power for long periods, some others have been unable to even escape from your own homes, walled in by mountainous drifts.
With the state of emergency in St. John’s, Mount Pearl and many towns in the surrounding area, some are no doubt feeling cut off and short of supplies. Others have, strangely, found out things about their neighbours — and even strangers — that they hadn’t known before. Things like who might be at the door to lend a hand when the going gets really rough.
We want to hear about it — all of it. From the capriciousness of one of the strongest winter storms we’ve ever faced, to the strength we’ve found in ourselves and in others.
Send us your experiences at letters@thetelegram.com — they can be as simple as that moment at the height of Friday’s roaring winds and snow when you felt most alone, or the moments afterwards when perhaps you felt suddenly like part of a big caring community.
As simple as the things that touched you — perhaps, hip deep in snow, you toppled over, and struggling to free yourself, had that momentary revelation that the simplest of accidents could wind up being the worst experience you’ve ever had.
The force of the wind where you were — the power of the waves, the whine of the wind, the blinding snow.
We know this is a storm with standout moments — we heard stories of a pregnant women who arrived at the Health Sciences Centre on a snowmobile, an ambulance trip across the city that took three long hours because of blocked roads, snowboarders carving powder on the hills of downtown St. John’s streets, even the simple story of a storm so powerful that a small skate was hurled well inland and found atop a snow bank.
Send us your stories, and we’ll share them with the rest of our readers — whether it’s thank-yous or concerns or even suggestions about things that can be done better if we face this kind of storm again.
There are a thousand stories in the snowy city and its environs.
They all deserve to be told. Help us tell them.
The Telegram