More much-needed snow

Marvellous! Overnight a new dump of fresh, fresh snow, covering all the footprints and tracks. Delight for the cats after their breakfast to go out for another romp in the powder. Below: Wenus, haunch-high in snow. Precipitation on this scale is what the soil has been crying out for.

Below: Céleste enjoying herself thoroughly. Temperatures this morning around -5°C, little to no wind. Not the -16°C it has been recently.

Below: snow on the car shows how much has fallen. Arcturus, unable to burrow under the fence, goes over the top to get back in my garden.

After spending a while in the snow, I lead the cats back in the house, and set off for my long walk. Passing the auto workshop at the bottom of my lane, impossible to identify cars under the snow.

Below: a Koleje Mazowieckie Służbowy ('service'/'official') train north of Chynów station, almost certainly an empty stock movement or a rescue run. When a train is shown as a Służbowy, it is running as a non-commercial service (przejazd próżny). It carries no passengers and is prioritised by dispatchers to get it to a specific location as quickly as possible (podsył). Note it is a five-car single-unit set, not the more usual ten-car double-unit set. Something's gone wrong up the line to Warsaw...

Below: I pass the car breaker's yard on the DK50, covered by snow. Sad to see an Audi A2 up there (middle), with its rust-resistant lightweight aluminium body and extreme fuel efficiency. Production ceased in 2005; I reckon it will be a collector's classic in years to come.

Below: the snow-ploughs and gritters were out in force along the DK50 (I saw two in the space of about five minutes) and two cars from national highway operator, GDDKiA, monitoring the state of the roads.

As I'm still not doing big grocery shops, I decide to go to Zajazd u Latoszków for my lunch, with mushroom soup and grilled barbecue chicken breast with salad, beetroot and potatoes, all for 30 złotys (£6.20). After walking for half an hour – much of that through deep virgin snow – a piping hot bowl of soup was just the thing. 

Below: another five-car single-unit set, this time heading south towards Radom, this time carrying passengers. Evidently many trains breaking down.

Below: my apple trees. It should be a good year. 1) Biennial bearing, 2) The snow cover, 3) lots of natural fertiliser stored up (coffee grounds). Blossom by late-April, apples by late-September. 

This time last year:

Week with new kitten

This time two years ago:
Warsaw railway interstitials

This time three years ago:
Qualia memories – snowy Greenwich, January 1970

This time five years ago:
Meagre, disappointing snow

This time 12 years ago:
The sad truth about Karczunkowska's pavement

This time 13 years ago:
About Warsaw's kebab restaurants
[In 2012, a king-size lamb kebab in pitta bread cost 13zł, today it's around 30zł.]

This time 16 years ago:
Making the most of winter

This time 17 years ago:
Progress along Ballay Street

This time 18 years ago:
Shortest, mildest, winter?