The grass is just starting to poke through the still lying snow here, in sunny old Moscow, so I thought about the right time to reflect on what was, and sometimes continues to be a very long, cold winter.
I thought I was Billy Big Balls arriving in Moscow. Yeah, it's going to be cold, and yeah, there is going to be snow, but come on, I'm from the North East, I've skied in Scotland for many a long year, and I've skied in Canada in early February where temperatures are similar. Well, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed most of the winter, but it has, at times, become unbelievably cold.
On leaving the house there were always two ways to tell how cold it was; how fast my earphones froze and how fast my nostril hair froze. At one point during the winter I was sporting a beard and just taking one or two breaths would produce a frost on my upper lip. On one evening I thought that a bottle of water had broken in my bag as my legs felt so cold and wet from the frost on my frozen trousers.
Only once can I remember the cold truly getting to me and I started to mildly worry about the damage I might be doing to my body. It was night, at about 21:45 and I started to wait for a bus. I waited. And I waited. And I waited. After ten minutes it was nigh on impossible to stay still. After twenty minutes I started to feel pain in my big toes. After thirty minutes my whole body was shivering uncontrollably. After forty minutes I got in a taxi and bit the rouble bullet. I was still shivering twenty minutes later.
The snow itself took its time arriving, but once it did it barely let up. The snow quickly accumulates and because it is so cold, it just doesn't melt. This means that you can, day by day, watch small glaciers appear all over the city. Whether it's on underused pavements, or, on grass verges, the snow piles up. There is an army of city employees who chip away at the frozen pavements, or, more likely, wake you up every morning scraping the snow from the paths and back roads. I have only fallen over 3 times....so far anyway.
Today however was a beautiful sunny day, and may it be the first of many to come. I do hope I don't fall over in the dry weather. Now, if we could also have a thunderstorm this week that would be perfect....
A winter wonderland:
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| After a lovely, warm ice-storm |
I thought I was Billy Big Balls arriving in Moscow. Yeah, it's going to be cold, and yeah, there is going to be snow, but come on, I'm from the North East, I've skied in Scotland for many a long year, and I've skied in Canada in early February where temperatures are similar. Well, I can honestly say that I have enjoyed most of the winter, but it has, at times, become unbelievably cold.
On leaving the house there were always two ways to tell how cold it was; how fast my earphones froze and how fast my nostril hair froze. At one point during the winter I was sporting a beard and just taking one or two breaths would produce a frost on my upper lip. On one evening I thought that a bottle of water had broken in my bag as my legs felt so cold and wet from the frost on my frozen trousers.
 | |
| Children make the most of winter, outside my flat they made an ad-hoc ice-slide |
Only once can I remember the cold truly getting to me and I started to mildly worry about the damage I might be doing to my body. It was night, at about 21:45 and I started to wait for a bus. I waited. And I waited. And I waited. After ten minutes it was nigh on impossible to stay still. After twenty minutes I started to feel pain in my big toes. After thirty minutes my whole body was shivering uncontrollably. After forty minutes I got in a taxi and bit the rouble bullet. I was still shivering twenty minutes later.
The snow itself took its time arriving, but once it did it barely let up. The snow quickly accumulates and because it is so cold, it just doesn't melt. This means that you can, day by day, watch small glaciers appear all over the city. Whether it's on underused pavements, or, on grass verges, the snow piles up. There is an army of city employees who chip away at the frozen pavements, or, more likely, wake you up every morning scraping the snow from the paths and back roads. I have only fallen over 3 times....so far anyway.
 |
| The army at work |
Today however was a beautiful sunny day, and may it be the first of many to come. I do hope I don't fall over in the dry weather. Now, if we could also have a thunderstorm this week that would be perfect....
A winter wonderland:
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