Tuesday 27 November 2007

Late autumn drive-time

Leaving the office this evening, the car thermometer showed +1C. Wet snow tipping down - deszcz ze śniegiem - the worst weather Poland can dish out. With four weeks to go before winter solstice, four weeks of deteriorating daylight, it's gloom, gloom and more gloom. Traffic is heavy and extremely slow moving; some drivers have not yet put on winter tyres (summer tyres lose adhesion below +6C). The wet snow is unrelenting, yet does not settle. The thermometer steadfastly refuses to drop to zero. Above: Along Al. Generała Władysława Sikorskiego the traffic manages to hit double-digit speeds (that's in kilometers per hour). Just three months ago, I was cycling home this way at this time. It still was warm and bright.

Above: Waiting at the junction of ul. Puławska and Poleczki. The journey home from here can take as little as five minutes on a clear weekend evening; today a further half-hour would elapse before I'd reach home. Below: Waiting at the junction of ul. Puławska and Płaskowickiej. It's snowing ever more intensely, but it's still above freezing.

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