Seems We’re All Out of Salt in the West Island – or is it the Entire City?

It’s 9:30 AM and I walked into the house about 20 minutes ago after over and an hour an a half of driving around in search of salt for my very icy driveway and walkway…and I came home with no salt but did manage to snag a 30 lb a bag of sand.

I left the house at 7:20 AM and arrived at IGA at 7:25 only then cloying in that they only open at 8:00 AM- my bad.

I then went to the first gas station: All out.

The next two gas stations: All out.

Next stop: Canadian Tire: All out.  I asked if they could check the system for any nearby locations that had stock. He kindly let me know that they are out of stick everywhere and that yesterday even Costco was out. I thanked him for saving men that trip ( although that would be later in the day anyway since Costco only opens at 10 AM and this was still just around the 8 AM mark)

Next stop: Home Depot. Clerk told me there was a salt sand mixture ‘right outside’ and when we walked out…guess what?  It was all gone. I walked away from the 30 lb bag of sand but then went back and bought it…just in case I really didn’t find any salt.

Next stop: IGA: All out

Next Stop: Walmart: All out and not sure if any more coming in. They get a pallet and it sells out same day, the associate told me. With the weather we’ve been having this year, I am not the least but surprised. She told me that kitty litter works…I thank her and reply that I just may try that (and I still might…)

Next stop: Reno Dépot: All Out. They do have sand and gravel though.

I head home driving through the parking lot of yet one more gas station to see if there is any salt outside…of course not. I glance at the storefronts of two more gas stations before finally heading home: Nada.

I get home, wait for the compost guys to dump my compost into their truck and then enter my garage.

I haul that 30 lb bag of sand onto the driveway.  Find a container of dried up Lysol wipes on the garage shelf, dump the wipes and use the container as my ‘scoop’ and proceed to sprinkle sand on the driveway to the sound of the insane wind and my recycle and compost bins moving all over the place.

FYI: Wind and sand don’t make the best combo.

Once I have covered a decent area, I decide to bring the recycle and compost bins up into the garage to stop then from ending up in the middle of the street as many of the neighbours’ already had.

As I am doing all of this I express gratitude for the ‘spike’ setting on my Olang Boots. There should be a government subsidy for these things. Also for salt.

Once about 2/3 of the driveway and my walkway are covered with sand, I decide to save the rest of the salt and store it safely in the garage to prevent it from being blown away by the wind.

I am now wondering what the story is with the salt shortage. I google it, I see predictions from September of this year that Ontario expected a shortage of road salt, but did not find much about Montreal.

I find  an article in The Montreal Gazette on January 25th, 2019, where Urgences-santé spokesperson Catherine Domingue explained that ‘Normally we deal with about 70 calls (reporting ice-related injuries) per day’ .  The expression ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure’ comes to mind …but we don’t even have access to the prevention.

Have any of you been out looking for salt as well?  If you have had any luck, I would greatly appreciate you leaving a comment so that I and my readers can know where you found it.

Until then, walk and drive safely everyone.

Thanks in Advance,

Tanya