Winter coming to an end

The thermometer outside my window this morning read +12C. As I write, it's touching +17C. On Wednesday morning it was -4C. Spring is definitely in the air; at 17:32 this evening, the sun crosses the Equator and in the Northern Hemisphere the length of day will begin to exceed the length of night. So welcome, spring.

I took a bet on the snows not returning, though in past years that I can remember in Warsaw we had snow falls at the end of March, indeed, even as late as 13 April. I took the Micra (dear little car, it will be 17 in May) for a car wash, to rid it of all the salts and rubbish on the bodywork. A change of tyres is due too, putting the summer ones on and storing the winter ones until November.

Above: A metre-and-half high heap of snow outside the BP carwash on ul. Puławska. How long will it take to melt, even at +17C? Nine cars in the queue at an average of six minutes per wash equals a long wait for drivers of dirty cars.

I swept the salt and grit that had accumulated from the snow brought into our garage by the car. There was at least a kilo of grey dirty dust. Next will be the bikes, I fancy getting my racing bike in order this year, a Holdsworth Tri-Ath Elan. New tyres are needed. My fixed wheel bike needs a new rear hub, my fold-up Brompton needs a chain-tensioner arm. Two bikes are in good working order, the excellent Cannondale Caffeine and my 531-framed commuter bike with hub brakes and gears. The call of bicycle grows louder and louder as spring approaches.