Finally ... A Snow Storm
Yesterday, there were weather warnings in effect for the late afternoon and evening in various parts of Holland. I am not sure how much of the European news is mentioned on local CNN in your areas, but there has been extreme weather across most of Europe with snow storms that have been causing massive disturbances to travel & traffic. Our part of Holland got hit early in the evening but to me as a Canadian who has experienced MAJOR snow, this was not the drama that the weather reports made it out to be. In Amstelveen, we get milder weather than other areas, so the storm was not as severe but according to NOS Nieuws, other parts of Holland got hit hard. Click the above NOS link to see a filmshow of photos they collected from around the country. For those of you living in the Canadian snowbelt, I know what you are thinking ...
Throughout the day we have been warned to stay home and avoid any unnecessary travel during the late afternoon. Bus service might be stopped due to icy road conditions & the trains might not be able to operate because of ice rain. Of course, I find this mildly amusing considering the amount of snow Toronto or other cities receive during a "normal" winter day.
But in all fairness, the roads in The Netherlands are made differently, with special pores to absorb the rain water (since it rains so frequently here) to improve visibility when driving. So you can only imagine how these pores behave when ice rain shoots down. Basically, the roads & highways turn into a never-ending skating rink and all the salt in the world will not solve the problem.
But if you don't have to drive, the snow is beautiful & takes me back in time. Before the ice rain started, we bundled up, grabbed our cameras & ran out the door like excited children. First, we went behind our house to the frozen pond to feed some bread to the ducks since food is limited during the cold months. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos to share of the ducks because it was too dark & flash created balls of light from the snow so ... I will try to get these photos up another time. It is soooooo entertaining to see the ducks run across the ice and slide on their bums when the try to stop - it just cracks me up! We go out every Saturday with our left over bread just so we can watch these cute, waddling birds slip and slide on their giant webbed feet. Each and every time, we laugh till our stomachs ache.
These are some shots in our neighbourhood - below is our street (our apartment building is to the left).
Throughout the day we have been warned to stay home and avoid any unnecessary travel during the late afternoon. Bus service might be stopped due to icy road conditions & the trains might not be able to operate because of ice rain. Of course, I find this mildly amusing considering the amount of snow Toronto or other cities receive during a "normal" winter day.
But in all fairness, the roads in The Netherlands are made differently, with special pores to absorb the rain water (since it rains so frequently here) to improve visibility when driving. So you can only imagine how these pores behave when ice rain shoots down. Basically, the roads & highways turn into a never-ending skating rink and all the salt in the world will not solve the problem.
But if you don't have to drive, the snow is beautiful & takes me back in time. Before the ice rain started, we bundled up, grabbed our cameras & ran out the door like excited children. First, we went behind our house to the frozen pond to feed some bread to the ducks since food is limited during the cold months. Unfortunately, I do not have any photos to share of the ducks because it was too dark & flash created balls of light from the snow so ... I will try to get these photos up another time. It is soooooo entertaining to see the ducks run across the ice and slide on their bums when the try to stop - it just cracks me up! We go out every Saturday with our left over bread just so we can watch these cute, waddling birds slip and slide on their giant webbed feet. Each and every time, we laugh till our stomachs ache.
These are some shots in our neighbourhood - below is our street (our apartment building is to the left).
Below is my tiny putt-putt buried under the snow - identifiable by my trademark happy face.
Arnie below in front of our building - we were getting cold at this point (only 20 minutes into our walk). What can I say ... we are a bunch of wimps!
Wherever there is Arnie, there is Bubbles ...
posted by Bubbles @ 17:33
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