I woke up this morning at 07:30 and the pavement (sidewalk) outside of my house had been cleared, I suspect the neighbour to my left did it but now I feel guilty as I didn't do his yesterday. This is my 1st winter here in Canada and I am wondering if there is some kind of etiquette where you take turns or something?

The lazy bastard didn't do my driveway though, I shall have to have words with him about that.

I noticed a lad clearning our driveway the other week - didn't ask him to, think it was the lad from next door but couldn't quite see under all the layers, bless him. Hubby gave him a few dollars. He didn't come back last week. Did we not give him enough, did we insult him by giving him something in the first place, or was he just having a good day the first time around?!

Like you Danny, this is our first one - what is the norm? I guess you just kind of work it out and muddle through. As long as it is 'shared' I'm happy. Or happy to help out a neighbour who can't do it. At what point does the novelty wear off? - first clearing, third clearing, first winter. I won't last that long - snow-blowers look like a fine idea right now. As long as it stays fluffy. Been reading 'bout them fellas on t'other side of this fine country. Taking a pick-axe to the driveway? Sod that

I think you are expected to clear your own drive and any sidewalk in front of your property.

If you have an elderly or infirm neighbor it is the done thing to clear their drive and bit of sidewalk too. I'm not sure how I would feel if a local youth thought they ought to clear mine!

Oh god, don't even go there. Last year or the year before, someone got lambasted on here because she commented that she usually cleared the neighbour's bit of sidewalk as well as her's, but the neighbours never returned the favour. It turned really nasty (on here I mean), and the poster left, in the end. A couple of people even told her she shouldn't be living in a house if she couldn't handle the maintenance. Awful, awful.

Anyway, I believe the bylaw here is that you clear the sidewalk in front of your own house by a certain time of day. Where I used to live (don't have sidewalk now) it was usually a great time for the neighbours to get together, as we didn't often see each other during the winter months.

I have a very long walkway to the front door and yesterday an old lady called asking for money or tins of food for the homeless. She spoke in French for a while pointing to the ground until I told her I didn't understand. So she said in English "You were not expecting anyone today?", still pointing at the ground. I gave a grin as if I understood and put two dollars into the container she was carrying. She went off struggling up the driveway in the deep snow. At that moment the penny dropped.

Oh yes - that was a thread with the purest form of vitriol.

My neighbour and his wife helped me clear mine yesterday so I will return the favour whenever possible.

I hate the snow plough driver with a passion that's almost holy though. I'd love to take him out with a large caliber weapon when he drives by gleefully dumping tonnes of ice and slush onto my driveway. :curse:

Most communities have bylaws that make the property owner responsible for clearing the sidewalk in front of their property even though it technically belongs to the municipality.

Don't see too many fines reported though.

We don't have sidewalks in our street so I am spared that. However, my neighbors on either side are elderly ladies. It doesn't snow much here, but when it does I get lots of shoveling done.

I did get lazy yesterday. Well, the weather forecast promised it would all melt this morning - and it has.

Right, off to find that old thread now. It always fun to read an interweb war ...

In Calgary you have 24 hours from when it stops snowing to clear your sidewalks.

As far as I know they have to receive a complaint from someone in order to send a by-law officer out to check on it then they have to give you time to clear it not sure how long that is. Most likely another 24 hours. Then they send a crew out to clear it for you and give you the bill.

From the City of Calgary website FAQ on Snow Angels

Regardless of the bylaws, isnt it mostly the fear of someone slipping and suing you for liability that keeps the sidewalks clear?

Yeah I was aware of the by-law on snow removal
Snow Removal/ Road Right of Way
The City of Kamloops requires by by-law that every person or business shall maintain the sidewalk bordering their property of all snow, ice, and debris by 10:00am of any day, except Sunday. Any questions or concerns regarding this issue please call 828-3406.

But I was more curious if there was some weird thing going on about odd days it's my neighbours turn, even days it's his?

I guess I will have to find out who it was first!

He's just being kind. If you're out first next time you do his.

I used to shovel my driveway, now I pay someone else to do it. I would work from left to right and then come back - right to left again. As our driveway runs beside the neighbours' lawn, I shoveled every alternate row onto their lawn. It never occurred to me to walk back and shovel the whole lot onto mine all the time.

Then I was at my son's when he was at work shovelling some of the snow off the driveway and I saw the neighbour glowering at me, so I went over and asked what was the matter. She said she didn't want his snow shovelled onto her lawn -- it was OK to do it when there wasn't any dirt in the snow.

I said "fine" - I'd never heard of such a thing but I didn't tell her that. Now, since her husband left, her lawn is full is sow thistle and weeds and I doubt she cares about dirt and salt on it.

I'm guessing they were just being neighbourly. Canadians are like that.

If hes got his blower out and working its not a lot of effort for him to do you a favour, so why not do it.

Nice eh? Welcome to Canada Next time you see him say thanks and ask if you can do it for him sometime.

I have occasionally been clearing my neighbours' part of the sidewalk at the same time as mine, when I have been feeling energetic. Then one evening I went over to the mail box, came back and saw that the path in front of my house looked quite clear, whereas the drive still had a dusting of snow which had fallen in the afternoon. I stood there for ages staring at it, thinking how strange it was that the snow had stuck to the drive, but for some reason it had melted when it hit the pathway and how wierd was that. I must have been there nearly five minutes marvelling at it, before my eyes followed the pathway back to my neighbour's house and I realised that her drive and sidewalk were completely clear, so she had obviously been out at some point in the early evening and cleared it and done mine at the same time. It was very kind of her, but it shattered all my illusions of instantly melting snow!!