Category: In English

Signs of Spring!

It is still unusually cold. Not only here, but everywhere in Europe. The only ones who do not seem to care are the birds. Every morning around 4 o’clock the blackbirds start singing. And they are so loud and so insistent that I usually wake up, even if the window is closed. Not that I mind that much. Blackbirds are part of the new beginning every spring.
There are however also other signs. Motorcycles of all sizes and kinds are already all over the place – a sure sign of spring. And the first spring flowers have appeared.

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The first signs annoncing that the circuses are back have appeared along the road. But their business cannot have been very good yet with this weather. But I guess we will get there, sooner or later. To real, warm, wonderful spring I mean.

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….and more winter, and more snow

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Having written the previous text yesterday evening, including the comments about streets getting clean of snow much faster than in Finland, this is how it looked this morning in Gex! And in Geneva. And snow just keeps falling, making everything nice, soft and white. Very beautiful! The table at the EBU terrace speaks for itself.

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Winter again!

We went back to Finland last weekend, and stayed Monday-Tuesday. It was nice to be back again and good to see friends and family. Everything was fine, normal, as before, and still also different in some ways. There are noticable changes in the landscape, new buildings popping up here and there, shops that did not exist before etc etc. As it should be I guess.
It snowed quite a lot, and I reflected over traffic in Helsinki compared to Geneva. With the kind of snowfall we had in Helsinki during those two days traffic here in Geneva would have been in total chaos, or possibly it would have stopped completely. In Helsinki nothing like this happens. Life just goes on. Everything continues, possibly a little slower than normally, and people drive a little more carefully than usually, but apart from that nothing much changes. Luckily, because otherwise countries up north, not only Finland, would have to put up a sign saying: Closed for winter.
Here in Geneva the cold – and the snow – has returned for the third time this winter. In Geneva the snow that covered everything when I came back on Wednesday morning has already melted again, but in Gex we still have snow on the ground. The big difference to Finland is that here the snow melts very quickly. No permafrost, the ground is basically warm, and as soon as the sun comes out it gets very warm in the air, and the snow just disappears. So in a way I understand the French who just shrug their shoulders and say why bother with the snow, it will disappear quickly. No winter tyres needed, no extra arrangements to cater for winter, just stay put and it will go away. However they do not seem to follow their own rules and stay indoors, but instead they do venture out on the roads in their cars with summer tyres, and just hope for the best. Which then leads to chaos. Well, I guess all we can do is try to survive!