Well…it’s finally here – snow – but not like I expected. I had visions of mountains of snow and ice everywhere, kind of like in Dr. Zhivago. These days it snows a little every day as it is right now as I’m looking out the window writing this. At the moment there is about 6 inches of accumulation from the last several days and based on what local people say that’s pretty much the norm; a little snow each day but not in huge amounts.
It is getting steadily colder which is what I expected. The forecast for the next few days calls for temperatures at or a bit below 0 degrees C.
Without the snow Mockva can be a pretty grey looking place. Things lighten up with the snow and the trees look pretty, which is a big improvement on your average linoleum-grey sky.
Snow removal here is different than in the US. The main roads are plowed and swept with large industrial size sweepers mounted on the back of the plow truck. An unknown liquid is sprayed. I’ve heard it called jet fuel and it does have the faint scent of kerosene. Salt is also spread in some places. Local streets don’t get as much attention and it seems like the DPW relies on cars traveling on the snow-covered roads to break it down. Everyone here uses studded tires so it does seem to get the job done although at night when the slush freezes it will get pretty slippery.
What is really amazing is the way snow is plowed in the parking lot of our compound. Everything is done by - hand! Our parking lot is about the size of a (US) football field or maybe even a little bigger. Guys with very wide shovel blades and 2 widely spaced handles push the snow to the side. With the snow now coming almost every day this amounts to a full-time job for these guys. Kind of makes you want to take up a collection and get these guys a snow blower or a John Deere with a plow. I know these exist at our local OBI (Home Depot) but they seem to be an unnecessary luxury by management.
It took the guys about 3 days to clear the snow from the last week and now it’s started again. Glad it’s not me out there…
Доследующегораза,
Борис
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