Weather Or Not

In this part of Sweden (inland from the west coast) we cannot claim to have been really snowed in over Christmas. We got a thin layer of extra snow on Christmas morning but that’s it. Otherwise around here it just basically stayed cold, -10°C plus icy winds blowing.

The really nasty snowstorms seem to have kept to the south-east over Christmas (now moving north). Down in the SE all trains were cancelled on Christmas Eve, car queues on the roads got stuck in the snow for hours, and military vehicles were needed to get home care/medical staff out to patients in remote places, etc. The main problem was the strong winds which caused the snow to drift. They had to give up even trying to clear some of the smaller roads while it was at its worst.

Collage from news scenes on my TV screen

Myself I even got out for a bit of a walk in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, but I have no photographic evidence of it, since I got problems with the camera card. Maybe it froze or something!  Anyway I had to format it to get it sorted and the few Christmas Eve pictures I had on it got erased. Never mind, nothing important. (And my main errand was to pick up a parcel from the post office rather than to take photos.)

On Christmas Day I only went outside for ten minutes or so, which took me as far as the end of our street, from where I was able to take this photo of the sun setting behind a house across the road.

Today I won’t be going out at all. If I had any thoughts of it, they went away just now as I turned from the computer screen to look out the window in my study. Guess what? It’s snowing…

An Ordinary Day

Above and below: Traffic pictures from the local newspaper.

Yesterday we had a snowstorm again. I did not have any plans to go out anyway, so I just stayed in, and wasn’t really much bothered. I was rather surprised to learn in the afternoon that it had been so bad that it brought a total stop to all the bus traffic in town! It did not look all that bad from my windows. I could see there was a strong wind, but the layer of snow was not very thick. But apparently the roads were really icy, and lots of road accidents were reported from all over the area. And in town, the busses were standing still, and people had to walk, or call for taxis, or stay where they were.

Today I had a lunch date planned with a friend. Doesn’t happen too often and I was looking forward to it. The storm has passed, and the snow was thawing again this morning. I was all set on going out for lunch. But it was not to be. My friend woke up with a cold and called to cancel. So I guess I’m in for a less exciting and much more ordinary lunch today: Soup from a can…

Better get used to it, I suppose. All of it: Snowstorms, colds, cancelled plans, and canned soup… It’s winter.

 

Going Nowhere

Haven't been out since Tuesday. Had my "exercises" (hm) with laundry and vaccuuming. Today we've had a brand new layer of snow again.

Since the weekend, more roofs of sports centres and such buildings have kept caving in (in quite a number of different places in southern Sweden). Some schools have also been shut because of the risk of similar things happening. There have been serious delays in train traffic (for example, no trains at all running on Monday between Stockholm - Göteborg, our two biggest cities). And the media of course delight in interviewing everyone about who is to blame.
(Who IS in charge of weather?)

Meanwhile, I have my own petty complaints like the weird sensation of being (painfully) aware of every bone inside my body. Hey, I know they're there, but do they have to keep reminding me...?

Picture found by Google picture search.

Pedestrian Problems

Choosing some pictures today to give you an idea of the snow problems from pedestrian point of view. Here and there you do find a nicely ploughed sidewalk, going on for a bit - until...



... it suddenly stops! In this street corner, someone pushing a walker or pram or wheelchair, or for other reasons unable to "climb", just wouldn't get any further!



A pedestrian crossing over a heavily trafficated road - but if you manage to get across... surprise, surprise... you'll just find yourself facing another wall of snow, with nowhere to go!

The Snow Situation

Going out for a walk in another direction today, I have to say the snow situation right now is really quite extraordinary. I don't think I've seen this much snow since the mid 80's, if even then. I moved to this town in January 1986 and I know the first two winters I spent here were very cold with lots of snow. But this much? I'm not sure.

At the same time I'm finding it a real challenge to quite catch the situation with the camera. It's hard to find definite points of reference; and the snow in itself gives so very little contrast.






My Friends-who-prefer-not-to-use-the-computer
will have to rethink soon!

And it has just started snowing again...

We Have a Situation

The snow plough actually did come around just after I finished my blog post yesterday. However, Eeyore's predictions were spot on: More "blizzards and what-not" set in just about an hour later!

Getting up this morning, I found that the Snow Situation had actually gone beyond plain boring to becoming sort of interesting again. Even the snow ploughs seem to have realized that. I ventured out for a walk with the camera later on and I don't think I've ever seen so many busy snow ploughs.

It did say in the paper yesterday that the town authorities had finally decided they had to start getting rid of the snow in the central parts of town; so now they are driving away truckloads of it to dump in a more out-of-the-way place.

I live about half-way between the town centre and the out-of-the-way place.



It was still snowing when I went out, but the wind had calmed down.
I ended up going for quite a long walk, considering the snow.



Somewhere around here (there is a park beyond those hedges, but the walkways in there do not get ploughed in winter), I used to take photos of busy butterflies:



Can you believe that?!