This is a little description for our friends and fam in Australia, who have not had the pleasure of living in a snowy climate - for those of you who already do, it won't be interesting at all! Snow is a wonderful thing. I think most people who live in Latvia have a love/hate relationship with it. When we first started living here, it was more love, than hate. After a couple of years though the relationship is starting to balance out a bit.
The boys, of course, can't get enough of snow. Especially because they are so into battling and projectiles - huge mounds of snow all around just means "snowballs"to them.
For us, the more responsible ones, though, yesterday's snow blizzard means much more. For a start, everything is gorgeous and white, and the world is suddenly not so gloomy and grey anymore. There's a strong childish urge to stamp big footprints when you see a field of untouched snow, and the wonder of the world you know suddenly being so drastically transformed.
But then, there's the painful part - you have to dress the kids in an extra layer of scarves and waterproof gear and woollen socks everytime you go out (which is no mean feat). Getting anywhere takes twice as long, especially if you are on foot and with kids. The footpath is slushy and slippery and you have to proceed as a shuffle as to not fall over. The boys are constantly running off to make another snowball. A small side trip to the shop a block away becomes a major expedition. And you are constantly in danger of having big heaps of snow fall off the roof and onto your head! This almost happened to me today walking along the street, a huge pile of snow came off the 5 storey building I was walking past and landed - with a huge, whumping shudder - one step in front of me. If it fell on me I'm sure I would have survived but it definitely would have knocked me down and given me a massive headache.... And then there's footpath cleaning, if you own a house. And this we do - so Jem has driven off with Mikus this morning to clean the footpath in front of our place in Agenskalns. Many people pay janitors to do this for them but the guy who did our footpath last year was ripping us off - and we got sick of him, so this year we've decided to try to do it ourselves. See how long we last!! Jem's certainly worked out a way to make the job easier - see the photo he just blogged a minute ago from his mobile phone (below).
But for now, for me, the "love" part is reigning over "hate".... we'll see how I feel come late February and it's still snowing!!