We're in the midst of a big snowstorm today, and this morning I was trying to shovel the front steps before teaching. Neighbor Dave was helping out with the sidewalk, then counselled me against putting down rock salt, given anticipated further snow conditions.

I told him I thought the salt would at least give a little grip to their boot treads for my arriving students. "Peter," he replied, "they're Canadians. If they can't figure out how to get up your [adjective deleted] front steps, they don't deserve to play the piano!"

Perhaps the best line of my teaching season.

Yes, but you're in Toronto. (Those in Northern and Eastern Ontario will get it.)

Seriously - good luck today. On a sober note, you want to clear and salt for insurance reasons. You want to prove due diligence in case someone does slip and fall.

This actually brings up a question (since I also freelance) - how common is liability insurance for teachers who teach out of their own studios?

Rock salt eats away concrete.. over time..it did a number on my limestone treads,
I use that other stuff.."Meltaway"

lol... I'm in Italy, but spent the first 36 years of my life in Ottawa. Ottawans know about snow.
The folks from Toronto...well, as Keystring said....:)

I would think though that you should have insurance coverage - here we have insurance for anyone who visits our house, but if I had my students coming here, I don't know if the insurance would be the same for work purposes. That would definitely be worth investigating.

Peter - your neighbour's comment made me think that perhaps you aren't originally from Canada?

I have a liability rider. It's not expensive, but it's worth it.

Cas, I'm indeed one of Canada's immigrants. It has been a good country to me.

Hi Cas,

I, too, spent many years living in Ottawa. Now, I live across the bridge from Ottawa, in Gatineau (Québec). Yes, we certainly do know about snow. Did you live here in the "Winter of, I think, 1971", where the depth of the snow was higher than the tops of the windows??

Peter - glad Canada is treating you well - (we have a pretty good reputation for that eh? )

Laurie.... yup. I remember trying to walk to school and the snow was almost up to my waist. The streets hadn't all been ploughed - or maybe the sidewalks hadn't... I don't remember. I really think it was quite silly of me to have tried. It must have been a teenager thing.

I'm from Ontario, and I totally miss ice-skating on the ponds! The weather here is too mild for that.

Peter,

My son refers to this sort of reasoning as "natural selection" (after Darwin!)

Ed