The Big Melt

The snow is melting. Slowly but surely. So are the roads. When you live in a place that has snow 9 or 10 months of the year, you tend to overlook the amount of snow that has accumulated. Most of the roads are not paved. The paved roads lack sidewalks and curbs. There are no drainage catch basins or street sewers. No traffic lights. No parking meters. A black layer of asphalt strewn thinnly atop a bare stretch of hardened dirt road at a cost of 1,000,000.00 (CN) per Kilometer. The unpaved roads gather a thick layer of a plastic-like ice, sand and gravel concreation that can be graded and plowed. In essence, the roads are "paved" 9 months of the year. Now, the everpresent sun is melting the snow. It is still -5 degrees Celcius and yet the snow melts.
Potholes are given thier name due to thier pot like shape. Potholes are shaping my life. There are so many potholes on some of the roads that top speeds of the local taxi cabs, who are notoriously speedy drivers, reach up to 3 or perhaps 4K/hr. I have to leave early to get to work. The driving makes my back ache so I take long hot baths. I drive a different route to the store to avoid potholes.
Potholes have an impact on my life as well as my back. Potholes change all the rules.
In Canada, we drive on the right side of the road. The exception would be in May when everyone drives 3K/hr, zigzagging along all the while trying to avoid potholes. On a typical day, you may observe four vehicles travelling south and three travelling north on a pothole infested stretch of road. The lead vehical on the southern bound lane is driving where the sidewalk should be. The next one is driving with two wheels upon where a curb would be if there were curbs. The other two vehicals are snowmobiles. The northbound lane is simillar in appearance with respect to the vehicals positions. As the traffic proceeds, the vehicals try to ride thier wheels around the potholes. The vehicals may crawl around, crossing into the other lane here and there avoiding potholes. After a few seconds, all the northbound vehicals are in the southbound lane and all the south in the north. No collisions occur. It is very easy to avoid a collision when you are travelling at 3 K/hr. Moments later they weave themselves back into thier respective lanes.
The drivers, when observed from the pedestrian's point of view, sway to and fro and bounce up and down. The front left wheel finds a deep pothole and the car jars suddenly. Everyone in the car leans into the direction of the pothole. The front wheel climbs out as the rear wheel finds another pothole. Everyone swings quickly to the right then the left. Then they bounce up then down hard. The next bump causes the two front passengers to bump thier heads on the top of the car. I find that a procession of vehicals driving at 3 k/hr, veering in and out of oncomming traffic that may be veering in and out of oncomming traffic, full of people bouncing around inside the cab like so much popcorn, somewhat amusing.