snow – Page 5

Silvestr – New Year’s Eve

Zoo 3. — In the bleak mid-winter..... © Ricky Yates

Today is 31^st December – New Year’s Eve. In Czech it is known as Silvestr as we discovered last year when the car park attendant at our local Billa supermarket wished us ‘hezky Silvestr’ as we gave him our ticket at the barrier. Sybille immediately knew what he meant as today is Silvester in German. And the reason for the name? In the Roman Catholic Church, today is the feast day of St. Sylvester/Pope Sylvester I who died on 31^st December 335.

This post is really just a quick update on the things I’ve written about in my three previous December blog posts.

Weather

Not only did winter, with considerable snowfall, come early to Prague this year – it hasn’t gone away! We had a white Christmas with snow already on the ground and more fine powdery snow falling as we travelled to Church for our Midnight service on Christmas Eve.

Zoo 1 — Emu in the snow at Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates

Yesterday, rather than being cold and cloudy, it was fine; cold but sunny. So we went to visit one of Sybille’s favourite places – Prague zoo. The weather was perfect for the polar bears, North American bison and other animals used to snow and below freezing temperatures. However, I did feel somewhat sorry for this emu though I believe he was outside by choice.

Since well before Christmas, we’ve been planning to take the car to our good friend Adrian of Nepomuk in order to have four new ‘winter tyres’ fitted and a couple of other minor things fixed. But unfortunately, the weather has been so bad we just haven’t felt able to undertake the journey. Therefore, the poor ‘Carly’, as it has become affectionately known, continues to sit outside covered in snow.

Zoo 4 — The 'Carly' in the snow © Ricky Yates

‘On the Feast of Stephen’

Our broadcast service on BBC Radio 4 on 26^th December had been very well received. As well as complimentary emails from various persons, known and unknown, one other very interesting statistic has emerged. Our Church website normally gets 10 – 15 hits a day. On Sunday 26^th December it got 153 hits!!! If you haven’t yet heard the broadcast, you can still do so during the next two days by visiting the Radio 4 Sunday Worship website.

Christmas Carp induced flooding

We’ve dried out and all the electrics are working. However, we are still awaiting a visit from our neighbour’s insurance company’s appropriately named ‘liquidator’!

Happy New Year!

Zoo 2 — Frozen waterfall in the grounds of Prague Zoo © Ricky Yates

Winter comes early to Prague

December snow 4 — Riverside Primary School in the snow © Ricky Yates

This winter will be the third one we have spent in Prague. In both 2008 and 2009, we had a dusting of snow before Christmas which soon rapidly melted. In both years, the really serious snow which settled and remained unmelted on the ground, didn’t arrive until January. However, this year, the snow has come early and hasn’t gone away since!

This winter, the first snow started falling during the night Sunday 28^th – Monday 29^th November. On the morning of Monday 29^th November, I was booked to conduct assembly for Riverside Primary School which fortunately is located not far from the Chaplaincy flat. Normally, I hop in the car and drive there. Seeing the snow, I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and took the bus instead. Unlike in Britain, public transport in Prague doesn’t grind to a halt as soon as snow falls!

As it was the day after Advent Sunday, I spoke to the children about the Advent season and how we can use it to prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ. I also explained why Advent had begun the previous day and not on Wednesday 1^st December when every commercial Advent calendar producer thinks it does! Here are the school children enjoying their break time out in the snowy playground immediately following my assembly. I’m sorry that the picture is a bit grey and grainy – it was still snowing when I took it!

December snow 2 — My Renault Scenic in the snow © Ricky Yates

The snow continued to fall leaving large accumulations. The photo above shows the front of my car twenty-four hours later.

December snow 1 — Overhanging snow & loose downpipe © Ricky Yates

Last week, we did have a couple of days when the temperature rose above 0 degrees and some of the snow began to melt. Besides causing some lying snow to turn to slush underfoot, a far more serious problem was accumulations of snow suddenly sliding off roofs and landing on unsuspecting individuals below.

I took this photo from our office in the Chaplaincy flat, looking across to the neighbouring block of flats which has recently been completed as part of the fourth and final stage of the Podbaba development. As you can see, a serious amount of snow is about to come off the roof! The sheer amount of snow also dislodged a piece of downpipe which has since crashed to the ground, along with the snow.

Then, just as I thought that all of the snow would melt, the temperature dropped below freezing again and earlier this week, yet more snow fell. The accumulation of snow hasn’t quite reached the proportions experienced in January this year, but it is rapidly heading in that direction.

In the midst of all this snow, life continues quite normally. Up the hill, behind the Podbaba flats complex, is a sports stadium. It is the home of Dukla Praha football team who currently are top of the Czech second division. Sensibly in view of the weather, they are currently on an extended mid-winter break and, having last played on Sunday 7^th November, they are not due to play again until early in March 2011.

The football pitch is surrounded by a running track together with a variety of all-weather pitches and facilities. The stadium is also used for other events. Quite what event was being staged there last Tuesday evening I do not know? But what ever it was, it ended with a spectacular firework display. The Czechs seem to need little excuse for having a firework display and clearly, a serious amount of lying snow wasn’t going to stop them!

December snow 3 — Firework display at the Dukla Praha Stadium © Ricky Yates

Opening my mouth too soon!

My Renault Scenic in the snow, Saturday 6th March 2010 © Ricky Yates

On Monday 1^st March I published a blog post entitled ‘Finally, the snow has melted’ describing how, after seven weeks, the snowfall that started in Prague on Friday 8^th January, had all but disappeared. I’m afraid I spoke to soon.

I took this picture yesterday morning, Saturday 6^th March, which shows my car parked outside the block of flats where we live. It had started snowing during the night and did not cease until early in the afternoon. Since then, the sky has cleared with a temperature of -10 Celsius being recorded at 6am this morning. Winter isn’t over yet!

Finally, the snow has melted

Renault Scenic in the snow — My Renault Scenic on Saturday 9th January 2010 after snow had fallen for 24 hours © Ricky Yates

I previously blogged about the heavy snowfall that started in Prague on Friday 8^th January 2010 and continued right through the weekend. The photo on the left shows my car on the Saturday morning after snow had fallen continuously for 24 hours. As I remarked in my more recent post about the visit of the Archdeacon to Prague on the weekend of 30^th-31^st January, most of the snow that fell then was still lying on the ground during his visit. However, after more than six weeks of temperatures almost permanently being below freezing, finally during the past week, a thaw has set in and the snow has gradually melted.

I was warned before moving to the Czech Republic, that I would have to get used to colder continental winters. But nothing could really prepare me for the weather Prague has experienced these last nearly seven weeks. Apparently, this has been the worst winter weather that the Czech Republic has had in 17 years. Towards the end of this long cold spell, even native Czechs were beginning to express their frustration with the extreme nature of the weather.

Despite the lying snow and freezing temperatures, Prague has continued to function. The city authorities have made major efforts to clear roads and pavements and public transport has kept operating with the minimal of delays. Particularly in popular pedestrianized areas in the city centre, snow has been cleared away by loading it into trucks and dumping it out of the way elsewhere. There are still massive heaps of snow along the banks of the River Vltava which are the result of this exercise.

Dirty Snow — Heap of dirty snow © Ricky Yates

Even in suburban streets, snow has been pushed into piles in order to leave a clear path along the pavement or road. It is mainly these heaps of snow that still have not melted, together with snow lying on north facing slopes which get very little sun.

When snow falls, everything looks beautiful and white. However, as it melts, dirt, litter and scattered street debris is revealed which look highly unattractive. In particular, many dog owners have got out of the habit of cleaning up after their dogs have obliged in the street believing that the snow will cover it up. Now the snow has melted, one has to walk quite carefully in places to avoid stepping in dog s–t. It will be interesting to observe how quickly all of this mess is cleared up.

As well as the marked improvement in the weather, last week was also notable for a number of other things. Both of us had our birthdays which has resulted in our joint ages now totalling one hundred! On the intervening day between our respective birthdays, I paid the last of several visits to the dentist for the fitting of a crown to replace one of my front teeth which I broke at the beginning of February.

Looking ahead, I have an early morning meeting on Wednesday 3^rd March, following which I may be able to write a very interesting blog post. Watch this space!

Snowy Prague

Chechuv Most in the snow — Chechuv Most, Prague; in the snow © Ricky Yates

Like much of Central and Northern Europe, the Czech Republic has recently experienced extremely heavy snowfall. Here in Prague, it started snowing just over a week ago on Friday 8^th January and continued doing so, almost without interruption, until part way through Monday 11^th January. According to the local media, around 40 centimetres of snow fell during this period, the heaviest snowfall here for 17 years.

Since it has stopped snowing, the weather has been overcast and grey with virtually no sunshine. Temperatures have risen slightly, but have rarely got above zero degrees Celsius, meaning that hardly any of the lying snow has melted. According to the weather forecast I have just looked at, it will start snowing once again tonight and ‘Heavy snow’ can be expected for the next two days!

Phillip in the snow in Mala Strana © Ricky Yates

I was rather worried on Friday 8^th January when it started snowing heavily, as my son Phillip was due to fly in that day from the UK to visit me over the weekend. Knowing that the UK had just experienced its worst snow for nearly thirty years, I had visions of his flight being cancelled, either because it couldn’t take off or because it couldn’t land. Fortunately, East Midlands Airport, which serves the city of Derby where Phillip lives, was less affected by snow than most other UK airports. Therefore his Friday afternoon flight was able to take off without any problems. And because the Czechs are used to dealing with snow, Prague Airport was still open and functioning, allowing his flight to land safely and on time.

I cannot help but contrast the way the UK deals with snow compared to the Czech Republic. As every British person knows, as soon as it snows in the UK, the country grinds to a halt. Last winter in London, snow falling caused the complete cessation of the capital’s bus services. Here in Prague last Sunday, despite two days of continuous falling snow, we travelled by tram from our flat in the north-western suburbs, to Church in the city centre, without any problems whatsoever. Likewise, the few flights to or from Prague Airport that were cancelled over last weekend, were almost all cancelled because of snow problems at other airports, particularly British ones, together with ones in northern Spain, not due to snow problems in Prague.

On Saturday 9^th January, Sybille and I took Phillip on a walking tour of parts of Prague that he hadn’t had the opportunity of exploring on his three previous visits. We took the tram to Prague Castle and then walked down through Mala Strana, the ‘lesser town’ or ‘lower town’, that lies beneath the castle and is full of architectural delights. He was particularly keen to see the Lennon Wall and some of the artwork which lies outside the Kampa Museum alongside the Vltava River.

Phillip at the Lennon Wall — Phillip in front of the Lennon Wall © Ricky Yates

Phillip & RY at Lennon Wall — Father & Son in front of the Lennon Wall © Sybille Yates

I took this series of pictures during our walk last Saturday. I hope they help to convey the beauty and character of Mala Strana, together with Phillip’s enjoyment of his time with us.