Waiting for the thaw

I woke up this morning later than customary for a weekday, just before seven. And yet the online thermometer read still read a chilly -12.8C. As I begin writing this post, just before seven the same evening, the temperature has shot up to -1.1C. Right now, half past eight, as I finish, it's -0.5C. Tomorrow and Wednesday, the forecast is for temperatures above zero - and rain - heavy rain. Rain that will wash away all this winter gorgeousness and turn it into a melting grey muck. Odwilż - the thaw. Something one dreads.

Above: the last snowfall of the current snowy spell? Ul. Marszałkowska, by Trasa Łazienkowska. Snow is swirling about, giving a fresh coat of white to the piles of dirty snow piled up on the pavements.

Uwage sople! Beware, icicles! View outside the office window, Al. Szucha. These beasts are getting ever longer and heavier as melting snow off the rooftops drips down and re-freezes. Our ones are not particularly dangerous, as they would drop onto several parapets before eventually landing, fragmented, on the courtyard.

Above: the flutter of grey pigeons - tupot szarych gołębi- on a pavement recently dusted with snow. Note their footprints.

Right: dealing with rooftop snow and icicles, corner of Pl. Zbawiciela and ul. Nowowiejska. The job's being done safely. The guy on the roof is wearing a harness; the pavement's been roped off; another guy is on the ground warning the shoveller of impeding traffic. Worth remembering that today's the seventh anniversary of the Katowice Trade Hall disaster.

Above: clearing the muck from the steps of Metro Polityechnika. A mixture of snow, meltwater, salt, soil - filthy stuff indeed. Slippery and filthy. And when the snow starts properly melting, any hour now - then the streets of Warsaw will be awash with it and things will be truly horrid - Wellington weather!

This time last year:
At last - some winter gorgeousness

This time two years ago:
New winter wear - my M65 Parka

This time three years ago:
Winter and broken-down trains

This time four years ago:
A pavement for ul. Karczunkowska?
[Hopes dashed. No, after four years - still no pavement]

This time five years ago:
Just when I thought winter was over...