Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Usually, coming back to the UK at Christmas means a chance to escape the cold Russian weather and the stresses of life on the wrong side of the Iron Curtain. This year, however, it seems I brought the Siberian weather back with me. Temperatures in Yorkshire before Christmas were colder than Moscow. That’s quite an achievement! It began snowing just after I arrived back; around ten days before Christmas, and it hasn’t really stopped since. Despite the North of England, Northern Ireland and Scotland all suffering massive amounts of snow, it doesn’t appeared to have registered with the rest of the country until it hit London and the South East. Last night. Just as I was supposed to be heading back to the airport. You would have thought that considering the rest of the country has been struggling for weeks with the “adverse weather conditions” (a favourite phrase of East Coast railways and BBC newscasters), London might have prepared itself, but that doesn’t seem to have been the case.

A couple of shots of my back garden in Yorkshire in the snow

Rather than take the train down to Heathrow on Wednesday as planned, I made an emergency decision to go Tuesday night. Cue speedy packing, panic and stress as we rushed to the train station to try and get on one of the last trains out of York to London Kings Cross. I did make it, and managed to get a room in a hotel near the airport, but not without battling through the snow first. Trains roll between St Petersburg and Moscow all through the winter: a 12 hour overnight journey through the empty Russian landscape, however East Coast and Grand Central Railways struggle to make the 2 hour York to London trip (whilst charging me four times the amount for the privilege of using their service. Unlike in Russia, you don’t even get a bed, but quite an uncomfortable chair).

Moscow has a city budget of $40 billion dollars a year (bigger than that of New York!), of which I imagine a vast chunk is spent on defending the city against the weather. De-icing chemicals are sprayed on the roads, which keep them clear of snow, and turns all the cars a slushy grey colour for four months of the year. These chemicals do a marvellous job of keeping traffic moving: the only downside (or maybe an upside depending on your point of view) is that they burn the pads on dog’s feet, so dogs have to wear special booties to go out walking in the winter. Hilarious!

This year, Moscow’s mayor announced he was going to cloud seed so there wouldn’t be any snow this year. This involves aircraft flying over snow clouds and releasing chemicals in the air to dissipate the clouds. Not good for the environment, but I imagine if it keeps the roads clear for him to get into the city from his home then he probably isn’t worried about a few trees. That seems to be the general attitude towards environmental protection and climate change in Russia. Looking at the weather forecast, I don’t think he has carried out his evil plan, but no doubt it’ll only be a matter of time before he does!

Not only are the streets kept well clear, but the pavements are gritted by an army of migrants, who work to keep the streets clean all year around; gritting snow in winter, clearing slush in spring, sweeping up dust in summer and leaves in autumn. The UK only had enough grit stocks to keep our main roads clear for one week, let alone the side roads (very important in Yorkshire, where main roads don’t get you to where you need to go) or the pavements. In fact, my Mum just told me that according to our local news, the good people of Scarborough have been removing sand from the beach to put it on the streets where it is needed. What’s going to happen come the summer and we all want to paddle in the North Sea? We’ll have nowhere to eat our ice cream, fish and chips or to leave our shoes... Disaster!