Dear friends,
How are you doing there in your parts of the world?
Here I am in Samara where a state of emergency is declared today after two days of snow and in view of another two days of snowfalls. I am fine: been to work today, am going to work tomorrow, am warm and have food, am even writing this (so I have Internet). It’s just that city authorities somehow managed to fuck up all the measures to clear the streets and these streets now vary from impassable to barely passable to somewhat passable. Again, cars have winter tyres, but tyres are of little help when a car is stick in snow, or when other cars in a jam before you are stuck. Schools are closed for two days. Yet it is only childish -11 C (12 F). I would say we have such snowfalls at least once or twice in the worst years to five-ten in the best years. And I am not kidding here: children of Russia should know what a typical Russian winter is. It is time for them to enjoy what I used to enjoy a lot when I was a child. We don’t die or get paralyzed at times like these. Yet, the city administration seems to have managed to do so…die in the streets and prosper on TV.
Some photos are here (the text is in Russian): http://samaralife.wordpress.com/2008/01/24/255/. Don’t think it is always so “dark” and “gloomy”. To make you believe we have had lots of sunny bright days I am sending you links to my other pics of this winter (just a few) that I put on a Samara photo site:
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.30951.html From the right bank of the Volga to where I went across the river on ice in -25 C (-13 F)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.31616.html A Soviet-style mosaic on one of the buildings in the city centre
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.31143.html Lenin Memorial building (part; after some retouching on the computer)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.30771.html Lenin Memorial building (part)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.32072.html Ladya (an old Russian boat – monument)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.31837.html Real space rocket as a monument in one of Samara streets (view from under it)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.31049.html An old street sign
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.30555.html My cat under the table)
http://samara-photo.ru/photo/id.32265.html At the embankment before crossing the Volga
Sending you all my love and best wishes,
