Frightful

Well - winter seems to be awful all over. This year I guess we have our first "real" Ukrainian winter - ie - the winter everyone thinks we have all the time.
2 weeks of -16C weather that felt colder with windchill, followed by a slight warming up and snow and snow and snow. The first days of snow was great - nice big fluffy things. Then it got nasty with storms taking down trees and driving hard pellets of icy snow.
Streets and sidewalks don't get clean here. The more people walk on a path, the icier and slushier it becomes. Metros and pedestrian underpasses are perilous because you have flights of outdoor cement steps covered in uncleared snow and ice. I've been lucky enough to only slip once (right in front of the apartment) but Alister has fallen several times and I've seen many another person take a tumble as well - one down the flight of metro steps at Beresteska. Just one of those things that reminds you that we are not in a handicapped accessible or old people friendly city.
After that - we had three days of +1C temperatures. This was great, in that it was incredibly warmer. You think that freezing is cold until you have something really cold to compare it to (Am listening now Shackleton's account of his voyage on the Endurance - South - and he says the same - but living in arctic water for so long - they actually thought melting was uncomfortably warm!!! - i'm not at that level of desensitization yet). Anyway - this turned much of the snow and ice into slush and lakes. The drainage in the parking lots don't work because 1) who's job is it actually to clean them, and 2) the grate covers keep getting stolen and so to save the cars from falling into holes - they get filled up with tires, tree branches - and everything else - this obviously doesn't help the drainage.

Now it has frozen again - and all that water - you guessed it - solid ice. And all that slush? Also solid ice - so between slipping along, you get to also stumble over deeply pitted and rutted icy ground.

The only reliable way to travel in this - and really any weather is by metro (if you can make it down the steps) Above ground - you are hard pressed to get a taxi (and they've raised their rates), the tramvays and trolleybuses are sporadic. And wherever the metro doesn't go you use your feet. Boots here are very important. A good winter boot with treads, inner lining, and fashion sense (we are in the capital city - do you think we can just walk around in moon boots?) A good pair is expensive - but worth it as you stay warm and are less likely to fall. A family I knew put it this way - a good pair of winter boots is an investment - we don't have cars and snow tires - we have winter boots - and boy do we use them!


The icewalk near our home.