Winter is here! The expression that comes to mind is... fok dis koud! And it's not the coldest it'll get yet. Tromsø has had a fair amount of snow in the last week and a half, so there is already a layer of at least 20 cm covering EVERYTHING. The amount of white everywhere reminds me of what I'd imagine it would be like to be in one of those mental-institution white-padded rooms, so I now understand why the houses up here are so colourful. Below is a picture comparing the same view 6 weeks apart.
It's definitely beginning to hit me that I live in the arctic. Over the last week the temperature has only barely gotten above zero, occasionally. Having never been in a city with snow or ice before, or a place that actually gets this cold on a regular basis, proper winter is a completely new experience for me. I've started wearing so many layers that I feel like the michelin man whenever I go outside, and I'm slowly getting used to having numb fingers and toes. I think I need better gloves. I have experienced snow previously, but it's something I've always associated with mountain-tops, or a visit to Ceres when I was a kid and one had to drive for 2 hours to find some half-mud half-snow that just about melted when you looked at it. This is NOT like that.
This is what the parking area outside of my apartment building currently looks like:
There are many unexpected things that I am learning as I go along. For one, I knew how snow and ice affects driving a car, but I had never really thought about how cars driving on snow on the road affects the snow... well, I've now learned the hard way that cars compact snow into hard-to-walk-on icy surfaces, and if the snow melts and then re-freezes, the ground becomes an even worse slippery surface of death. Having grown up in a place where road rules are more like guidelines, I have a healthy fear of crossing the road already, add ice to that, and it becomes an exercise in balance and concentration that makes me extremely grateful for all my previous yoga experience. Just this morning walking the 100 m downhill from the bus stop to my office was rather acrobatic, and I am more than grateful that I was wearing these boots:
They're particularly awesome, not only because they're lined with sheep, but also because they have retractable spikes! Most South Africans who've never had to contend with ice before are probably wondering "what the hell are spikes?", which was exactly my reaction several months ago when I was first told of their existence. Here mostly foreigners, and some of the older generation, use them to avoid falling on their faces when attempting to walk on icy surfaces, particularly up or down hills. Most Norwegians were born walking on ice, so they don't seem to use them much. Normally spikes are small metal pointy things attached to rubber bits that one wears over their shoes, however these boots are rather special in that the spikes are integrated. I have a feeling that they are going to be the only shoes I wear for a while!
Something else that I had never really though about is the fact that snow covers everything, changing the landscape, and obscuring many things that we often deem necessary for everyday life.... cars, stairs, the painted lines on roads, and sidewalks. Which means that walking anywhere is terrifying, not only because of the ice, but also because along many roads, the road and sidewalk have merged... and there are no lines visible. Add to that the fact that drivers have less control (despite their studded tires) because they're driving on ice, and well, you get the picture.
Also, the fact that snow covers everything means that you have to move it when you need to use the item it is covering... something I'd never really thought about before. This makes me extremely grateful that I don't currently have a car, because if I did getting to work in the morning would take exponentially longer due to the fact that I would have to: 1) find which car was mine under the snow, 2) shovel the snow away from the sides of my car that accumulated there overnight, or that the snow plough had pushed up against it when it cleared the road, and 3) clear the snow off my car and scrape the thick layer of ice and snow off my windscreen. I have watched people go through this process in the mornings, and I have decided that it is infinitely easier to take the bus.
Although, taking the bus has become a slightly scarier experience than previously too. Because the buses are hybrids and therefore don't have enough power, and are not really designed to exist in icy conditions, especially in a hilly place like Tromsø, they seem to slip a lot, and struggle to get up icy hills. And this is despite the fact that they have half the air let out of their tires, and chains attached for grip! Perhaps it's time I got some cross-country skis, and learned to use them so I could commute on those.
Now, I realise that so far I have made it sound like winter here is rather difficult to navigate. And yes, for someone whose previous definition of winter is a rainy and windy daily average of 12° C, it is extremely different. The thing though, is that at the moment every time I go outside I experience something else new, and that's pretty fantastic.
It's definitely beginning to hit me that I live in the arctic. Over the last week the temperature has only barely gotten above zero, occasionally. Having never been in a city with snow or ice before, or a place that actually gets this cold on a regular basis, proper winter is a completely new experience for me. I've started wearing so many layers that I feel like the michelin man whenever I go outside, and I'm slowly getting used to having numb fingers and toes. I think I need better gloves. I have experienced snow previously, but it's something I've always associated with mountain-tops, or a visit to Ceres when I was a kid and one had to drive for 2 hours to find some half-mud half-snow that just about melted when you looked at it. This is NOT like that.
This is what the parking area outside of my apartment building currently looks like:
There are many unexpected things that I am learning as I go along. For one, I knew how snow and ice affects driving a car, but I had never really thought about how cars driving on snow on the road affects the snow... well, I've now learned the hard way that cars compact snow into hard-to-walk-on icy surfaces, and if the snow melts and then re-freezes, the ground becomes an even worse slippery surface of death. Having grown up in a place where road rules are more like guidelines, I have a healthy fear of crossing the road already, add ice to that, and it becomes an exercise in balance and concentration that makes me extremely grateful for all my previous yoga experience. Just this morning walking the 100 m downhill from the bus stop to my office was rather acrobatic, and I am more than grateful that I was wearing these boots:
They're particularly awesome, not only because they're lined with sheep, but also because they have retractable spikes! Most South Africans who've never had to contend with ice before are probably wondering "what the hell are spikes?", which was exactly my reaction several months ago when I was first told of their existence. Here mostly foreigners, and some of the older generation, use them to avoid falling on their faces when attempting to walk on icy surfaces, particularly up or down hills. Most Norwegians were born walking on ice, so they don't seem to use them much. Normally spikes are small metal pointy things attached to rubber bits that one wears over their shoes, however these boots are rather special in that the spikes are integrated. I have a feeling that they are going to be the only shoes I wear for a while!
Something else that I had never really though about is the fact that snow covers everything, changing the landscape, and obscuring many things that we often deem necessary for everyday life.... cars, stairs, the painted lines on roads, and sidewalks. Which means that walking anywhere is terrifying, not only because of the ice, but also because along many roads, the road and sidewalk have merged... and there are no lines visible. Add to that the fact that drivers have less control (despite their studded tires) because they're driving on ice, and well, you get the picture.
Also, the fact that snow covers everything means that you have to move it when you need to use the item it is covering... something I'd never really thought about before. This makes me extremely grateful that I don't currently have a car, because if I did getting to work in the morning would take exponentially longer due to the fact that I would have to: 1) find which car was mine under the snow, 2) shovel the snow away from the sides of my car that accumulated there overnight, or that the snow plough had pushed up against it when it cleared the road, and 3) clear the snow off my car and scrape the thick layer of ice and snow off my windscreen. I have watched people go through this process in the mornings, and I have decided that it is infinitely easier to take the bus.
Although, taking the bus has become a slightly scarier experience than previously too. Because the buses are hybrids and therefore don't have enough power, and are not really designed to exist in icy conditions, especially in a hilly place like Tromsø, they seem to slip a lot, and struggle to get up icy hills. And this is despite the fact that they have half the air let out of their tires, and chains attached for grip! Perhaps it's time I got some cross-country skis, and learned to use them so I could commute on those.
Now, I realise that so far I have made it sound like winter here is rather difficult to navigate. And yes, for someone whose previous definition of winter is a rainy and windy daily average of 12° C, it is extremely different. The thing though, is that at the moment every time I go outside I experience something else new, and that's pretty fantastic.
Sweet mother of Tartarus those boots look dangerous!
ReplyDeleteAlso, look up! The sun is belching out some X-class flares, they might make some excellent auroras.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/10/25/solar_flares_first_x_class_flares_in_months.html
Yeah, and they let me on the plane with those boots! I got through security and everything. Muhahahaha!
ReplyDelete