On When Spring Arrives in Mockba29 марта 2013

A friend of mine asked me recently via email: “When does spring arrive in Moscow?”

I thought my response would be a good blog post. Here’s the text of my response:

“Spring has NOT arrived here in Mockba. We just went through a 3 day period where it snowed continuously at -16 degrees C. This year we've had over 10 feet of snow and it's been one of the coldest winters since the 50s. Today was a balmy -6 which warmed up to 0. Next week we're supposed to get all the way up to +6. Around here that's shorts and T-shirt weather...almost. To keep the windshield wiper fluid in  your car from freezing you buy the cheapest bottle of vodka; 100 rubles = ~$3 (which is cheaper than the actual fluid) and dump it in. When you squirt the windshield you get  "bar room kind of smell."

Getting around in the car is a bit challenging. They plow the main roads but not the side streets. We live on a side-side street. They just let the tires of cars mash it all down. Of course at night it freezes into a massive sheet of lumpy ice. Then in the daytime, if it gets a bit above 0, there are massive lakes everywhere. We have piles of snow in our parking lot over 6 feet high. Eventually it gets so high maintenance brings in a Bobcat and dumpsters and haul it out. The cycle then repeats itself. We've been through 3 cycles so far..”

До следующего раза ...

Борис