At last, a real winter
Recently I was somewhat bizarrely reminded of a sound that is quintessentially linked to my childhood and growing up in the city of Montreal: the ever-present sound, in winter, of car tires crunching slowly over snow as they pull out of the drive. It is common in Montreal, less so for the centre of Prague, at least for more than a couple of days. But that’s the way it’s been here now for roughly a month: snow - and lots of it.
Our little boy was amazed to see it, really for the first time, but so was everybody else in the capital: Christmas had been rainy and certainly not white: but a few weeks later the city was covered by a thick blanket of snow. And still the snow came down. The first morning, when we woke up to everything was gorgeous, even though the sun wasn’t shining; sun is all too rare in Prague winters, but the mood was pristine and nobody was about. Soft footsteps padding in the snow, as we went for a walk and gradually more and more residents began to emerge from their homes: near our apartment, all headed in one direction Prague’s Letná plain. People carrying cross-country skis. Pulling sleds and toboggans with their little children. Taking warmly-dressed pooches for a walk. And building the season’s first snowmen. It was a wonder.
Then it let up, briefly, the snow turned to water, froze again, causing several days of ice to fall dangerously from roofs and the side of buildings – indeed two children were very seriously hurt. Then, that too disappeared. By then, almost a kind of ennui had set it, and as temperatures rose again, Praguers expected that would be it for this winter. It wasn’t. But maybe it was the end of the prettier side of things: virgin snow turned all too quickly into brown, dirty slush the way it always does, and gradually everything became kind of gray or brown or dirty and ugly. Until last night: yep, it snowed again. Once again Prague resembles a city that in Czech you’d say is pocukřený – covered in powdered sugar, just like airbrushed postcards or something in story books. This winter, Prague never looked better.
Still, many are probably already a little fed up. As fun as the snow is, there were Februarys in the past when it was already possible to bike! Some people I’ve talked to are already contemplating holidays on the beach, all the more for the conditions that continue to hold Prague in its clutches. And a headline in the free paper Metro this Thursday screamed “Three more weeks!” – which is how long meteorologists say the current conditions will last before we begin to feel the first arrival of the spring.
Yes, I’m looking forward to that too, and it will be nice to closet the giant boots I have been sloshing around in for the last month in exchange for a pair of tennis shoes, I am sure it will be splendid. And it will be a welcome change, because we earned it! Still this winter on the whole – the first real one here in ages – has been great. Skiing and driving through mounds of snow right in the centre of the city and everything being white for more than two days is something that many of us here won’t soon forget.
