Tuesday 2 February 2010

Black ice and other blessings

Here's a thing. Did you know that it doesn't need to be above 0 degC to rain? And did you know that when that rain hits the ground (in less than 0degC) it will turn immediately to ice and coat everything on the ground in a thin coat of invisible glass?

I mean, I thought I KNEW black ice, from London. I thought I was able to deal with it. But apparently in Moscow it can - at only a couple of millimeter's thick - give enough glide for boots able to deal with the thickest of slippery snow to slip and slide like nobody's business.

It's not elegant, let me tell you.

But it is great if you're pulling a wooden sledge with a tired and fractious 4 year old on it, trying to make school pick-up on time after a much-delayed departure due to having had to chase said child around the house because he doesn't want to venture out into the raw cold to collect his brother. The relief when you realise that you don't have to decant him from the sledge because you're hitting what you think is a patch of bare, snowless track, but which is in fact covered with a sledge-friendly patch of black ice, saving you at least 2 minutes on your yomp to the school gate, is significant.

Of such small triumphs is my life currently composed. And I'll take them - and be grateful - thankyou very much.

8 comments:

  1. Sounds just like Chicago, without the funny language. (Oh wait - we have that too!)

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  2. How lovely - not!

    And to think I am moaning because the temperature has dropped suddenly to the low 20s this week. Sorry,I will do penance.

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  3. I'm sure black ice must be some kind of a metaphor for something. It just has that feel about it. The inherent slipperiness of life. Invisible treachery. Something, anyway.

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  4. At what point is your husband going to pay for you to fly to the Maldives for a week in the sun on your own?

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  5. Sounds like fun! You're having fun, right. I just know you are.

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  6. EPM, well then apart from the lack of my glamorous tv and writing career (and fewer children), we clearly are living parallel lives!

    Sharon, yes; go and jump into a cold bath immediately. Actually, don't. Just enjoy it!

    Iota, you're right, it could be. It isn't right now though. It's just annoying - and useful too. So I suppose it's actually, um, a paradox?

    HOM, good question!

    Modern, mostly, yes... Although I may need to redifine my parameters of 'fun'...

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  7. We get that kind of ice here too. It is a nightmare, but I was entertained by watching the expression on the dog trying to turn a corner in the garden and failing miserably.

    Revenge was hers though as I went bottom over breakfast carrying out the rubbish to put into the bins. There I was, prostrate in the middle of the road, surrounded by general detritus of day to day household life. The potato peel on my nose might have been rubbing my face in it though.

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  8. As you say it is the small things!

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