The Inuit have 70 words for 'snow' (or so goes the myth); Poland has experienced several forms of sub-zero precipitation over the past 36 hours. A heavy fall of fresh powder followed by freezing rain; then a thaw lasting around 24 hours, crusty ice on virgin snow and slush-and-glaze havoc on pavements, roads and indeed rail.
Below: my Samsung Galaxy A56 is 6.4 inches (165mm) high; snow in the garden this morning was about eight inches (200mm) deep.
My train into town to a business meeting yesterday morning was 55 minutes late (I'd opted for an earlier departure to be on the safe side, so no big problem in the end), but at least with snow powder one can move through it without slipping. Journey home OK, but once the freezing rains started to fall in the late afternoon, pavements and roads became treacherous.
As I write, it's currently +0.3°C outside, but due to fall below zero soon – and then stay below freezing for the next two weeks! Double-digit frosts are forecast ever night through to at least Thursday 29 January, but with no new snow on the way. So what we have is what will be hanging around, not melting, just getting greyer and dirtier with time.
My new winter boots, bought two weeks ago, are excellent. The brand was recommended to me by the man who runs a militaria shop in Wola, although that shop doesn't sell footwear. I found the boots in another shop in Śródmieście, with a nice reduction (799zł reduced from 849zł). The boots are Lowa, a German brand, though made in Slovakia. These replace my old Ukrainian army boots, which sprung a leak in the late autumn after five winters of heavy use. [The old pair, minus laces, I retain as boots that I can easily slip on and off to go out to the compost heap or get something from the garage. I am practical.]
Two weeks of daily walking (10km a day) and the new boots (which labour under the ridiculous name of Renegade Evo GTX Mid) are excellent. Goretex, leather and Vibram soles, they are comfortable, don't slip, and are warm and waterproof. They've experienced temperatures down to -15°C and have taken me over kilometres of slush-covered pavements with no discomfort experienced by my feet. And no falls.
This morning, I ventured forth into the garden, above freezing for the first time this year, and over the icy crust of virgin snow covered with a thin layer of ice. Walking around with a satisfying 'crunch' as my feet break through the thin ice and push through the soft, ankle-deep snow.
Still unable to use the car (last journey: 27 December), I walked to the shops in Chynów, and back the long way to get my paces in. Again, I choose a route with plentiful virgin snow for that rare experience of crunching through crusty snow. But most of Chynów's pavements were unpleasantly slushy. ('slush' = breja, and that other nasty surface, gołoledź, 'glaze' or 'glazed frost'. Really nasty stuff, but my Vibram soles coped well.
This time three years ago:
Mid-Jan town-and-country pictorial catch-up
Winter at its zenith
Signals from space
This time eight years ago:
In which I see a wild boar crossing the frozen ponds
This time nine years ago:
Communicating the government's case in English
This time 11 years ago:
Thinking big, American style. Can Poles do it?
This time 12 years ago:
Inequality in an age of economic slowdown
This time 13 years ago:
The Palace of Culture: Tear it down?
This time 15 years ago:
Conquering Warsaw's highest snow mounds
This time 17 years ago:
Flashback on way to Zielona Góra
This time 18 years ago:
Ursynów, winter, before sunrise
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