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Friday, 15 January 2021

Winter approaches its zenith

Winter is looking better as better as more snow - and the temperature - falls. Today's walk pretty much follows the steps of yesterday. Below: the 'foodstuffs & industrial shop' on ulica Baletowa. Christmas lights up until Candlemas on 2 February, in the old tradition. I'm glad this independent retailer is open and I pop in from time to time for supplies for my walks.


Below: the cemetery gates on ul. Jeziorki. The white-red-white stripes are not a display of solidarity with Belarus, rather they are markers for the tourist trail (szlak turystyczny) MZ-5143-c, which like trail MZ-5142-z (white-green-white) begins at W-wa Dawidy station.


Below: a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 787 Dreamliner on final approach to Warsaw Okęcie. Beyond the treeline, over the railway tracks and the S79 expressway and ul. Wirażowa, over the fence, touchdown in 40 seconds or so.


Below: the ponds are icing up nicely. I can stand on the edge, the ice will now hold my weight, but if I bounce on my knees I can hear cracking. By Monday morning it should be firm enough to walk across, after two nights well below -10C.


Below: ul. Dumki - almost home. This is the asphalted stretch of Dumki, though one would never guess.


The shifting of budgets to central government away from local government is making itself felt; last year there was no snow so the lack of snowploughs and salt went unnoticed, but this is the first winter when ul. Trombity was left unsnowploughed. The result for pedestrians is very slippery ice, packed hard by car tyres. Safest to walk on the grass verge, there being no pavement along the length of the street.


This time two years ago:
Signals from space


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2 comments:

  1. student SGH17 January 2021 at 13:57

    I a more urban part of Ursynów I have not seen any worsening in terms of road clearing speed and quality. Main roads have stayed black nearly all the time since Wednesday, while side roads require drivers to move slowly and carefully and necessitate the use of winter tyres, with with such amounts of snow are not a problem.

    Pedestrians in turn, have remained second category citizens in Warsaw since many years. While roads stay clear of snow, pavements remain slippery. Pedestrians are more vulnerable to injuries than car passengers protected inside their cars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael Dembinski22 January 2021 at 20:37

    @ student SGH

    Entirely agree! When you see fools taking to the uncleared backroads of Jeziorki to try out handbrake turns...

    ReplyDelete