A Russian Winter…

I am still in pain from having dental work done, so I will write a short article about the snow that never ends in our part of Russia. I will write an article about all the dental work that I have had done and about the costs. I am very pleased, but as always I really dislike dental work and nothing has changed on that part in my life. So lets talk about a Russian Winter and yes I know it is spring, but you would never know that from what we are seeing…

There are three reasons for becoming a writer: the first is that you need the money; the second that you have something to say that you think the world should know; the third is that you can’t think what to do with the long winter evenings: Quentin Crisp…

Oh how true that quote is (Except the money part!) and hence writing in Russia has just been normal and come naturally. For the Russian winter is the longest winter I have ever endured or seen in my life…

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Out come the kids! In about a half hour from this image, from when it was taken, this playground will be full of kids, moms and babushkas. It is snowing like crazy and it is -12 C as I write this post. I said the other day that no matter what the conditions are, the little ones are taken outside and they play for hours. It does not matter what is going on in the world…

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The first photo does not make you understand what it is like here. I am shooting the picture from our balcony and I am much higher looking down on the world. The second picture is what you see as you walk around. You walk below the snow level and we are definitely running out of room to put the snow…

Moscow as I have said before, melts the snow from the roads,  but most people in Moscow walk and this is what they see. They see a city that is strangling from too much snow. I have watched it snow for two days straight and it looks like a few more days are on its way…

To put it in perspective. The car that you see in the first photo all most buried, in the middle bottom. That car is siting on about a meter packed ice and again the car is disappearing from sight. By tomorrow you most likely will not see the car until spring! Oh wait – it is spring… 🙂

The train in the playground amazes me! It is not attached to the ground and it seems to float on the snow. It always looks like it will be buried and the next day, like a boat in the water it just seems to appear back from drowning in the snow. But notice the swing sets! They use to be taller than I am by a lot, but now I tower over the top bar. They have huge holes under them as the kids swing and cut a path out in the snow. Like I said, “Russians play outdoors in all weather!”

Oh by the way! The snow from the very first snow in our winter is still here. That is the interesting thing in Moscow. The stuff never melts for months and months…

I just love Russia…

Post by Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…

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