Volume #2 Issue #4 March 2006 - Icy Roads

Winter is finally drawing to an end, for which I am greatly relieved.  Winter in this part of the world are a very different experience than at home.  At home we have snow plows and salt truck, both of which are unheard of here.  Even after the worst snow of the winter, there is not city work crew in sight.  Each business is responsible for not only their sidewalk (if there is one) but the stretch of road in front of their property.  For one hour all of the roads in town close.  Buses, cars and everything comes to a complete stop.  Most of the stores sent out all but one employee with shovels, ice picks and a variety of tools to chop up and remove ice.

 

 

The road is filled with a wide mix of people working side by side.  Fancy YOU women from dress shops are working away in their high heels right next to the butcher who still has blood stains on his apron.  The whole city is filled with the noise hammering and scrapping, talking and laughing.  It is the noise of the people working together.  In under an hour all the city streets have been cleaned up.  Snow removal is everyone’s job; it is the great equalizer in this society.  Even at the university each class is assigned a section of side walk or road way that is their responsibility to shovel after a snow fall.