Although it is not my wish. The warm over 0°C temperatures can remain as far as I am concerned. I have no death wish to ski on the slopes of the Swiss mountains or plough through walls of snow thinking “how lovely, the snow is here again”. There are some people in this country who have a feeling that there is something missing from their boring Winter life when they cannot watch the flakes falling from a dismal sky. They are disappointed and moan about the Winter not being as good as it used to be. We need the cold and the pretty ice crystals on the windows. The senior Swiss remember the days when they went to school on their sledge, wearing their long underwear and insulating their hands with gloves. Oh yes those were the days, the Winters are just not like they used to be.
And me - I don’t want the Winters like they used to be I don’t really want the Winter, but it is a necessary obstacle to overcome every year. Up to Christmas I was happy, it was warm, even the sun was shining from time to time and the birds were singing. I still had flowers in the garden. Ok, the sun is still shining when it stops snowing. My car was happy. Although it had nice winter tyres to brave the icy roads, it was just to show how well equipped we were for the days ahead and if you were caught unaware with the Summer tyres you were in trouble if it did happen to snow. The Swiss police do not look kindly on Summer tyres if there is an accident in Winter.
Yes now we are glad for our Winter tyres. The snow arrived last Friday. This was no problem, Friday all the shops were closed for Boxing Day and we had food and water (even some wine) to see us through until the week-end. Unfortunately it arrived during the evening and persisted throughout the night. The first words from Mr. Swiss on Saturday morning when I opened my eyes from a golden oldie deep sleep were “it’s snowing”. My first thought was remain in bed, it is safer, I might fall on the snow. I then realised the snow was restricted to outside. My next thought was the headline in the local newspaper “Englsh senior citizen lost in a snow storm on the way to supermarket” or “Car found after being involved in an avalanche near the local supermarket: the driver was recovered holding a shopping list in her frozen fingers”.
Let us be serious. Mrs. Angloswiss does not sit in a car and drive when it is snowing, she has an emergency plan. So Mr. Swiss made his way to the supermarket in the car. Luckily we heard the snow ploughs at six in the morning, so knew that something was being done by the local authorities. Instead of the usual ten minutes, Mr. Swiss needed twenty minutes each way to the supermarket, but we were saved and he brought home food for the week-end.
This was a few days ago. Since it is still snowing. On Monday we ventured out together. I found my special heavy winter shoes, anti slide and anti cold, although I could slip and slide on glue probably. We were both having illusions of ice covered roads blocked by numerous snow ploughs battling their way on the roads, but we were relieved to see that the trusty Swiss had organised themselves. We approached the main road and discovered it was snow and ice free, although temperatures were now down to -8°C (during the night it was -12°C). The actual driving surface was restricted on both sides due to a pile up of the removed snow.
Our trusty car stopped trembling, everything was OK. Of course with Mr. Swiss at the wheel, there was no problem, after all he is Swiss (did I already mention that). Yes, we were saved, our spirits were high and so I decided to take a few photos on the way as a memory of the first day driving in snow. In the euphoria of the moment we decided that we would venture again into the frozen world on Wednesday for another shopping expedition, after all it was only snow and it melts eventually perhaps.
The Swiss weather forecast tells us that the snow is here to stay until the end of the week, due to very cold minus temperatures, but it can only get better and next week, everything will return to normal, if it does not snow. Mr. Swiss finds you cannot trust the Swiss meteo, they make is up as they go along.
Ugh. I hate cold and I particularly hate snow!! I'm so happy I live in an area that rarely gets snow.
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