November 01, 2006

Snow chaos!

Oh, for God´s sake. Does it have to snow already? Just a short non-food posting today but I will give you several Swedish words.
Kallt, means cold. Blåsigt, means windy. Lidande, means suffering. Snöstorm, means snowstorm. Våt om fötterna, means wet feet. Vänta, means wait.

It started yesterday evening. A and I had been to a concert (Cesaria Evora, wonderful!) and entered the central station in Stockholm where approx. 100 people were standing in line in front of the information desk. We learned that all trains heading north of Gävle, a town about 200 km north of Stockholm, were cancelled and some trains were even standing on the railways in the middle of nowhere because it was not safe to continue in the increasing snowstorm.

I thought the worst was over, but when I came out in the street after work the snow hit my face so hard I just gasped! The commuter train was delayed, and we waited, and waited, and waited. Then we learned that the railway points (växlar) north of Stockholm were totally frozen, didn´t work at all. So the central station was even more chaotic this evening! It took two hours to get home, and that is only because A very kindly took the car to pick me up at the train station. All buses in my hometown were cancelled, the streets were simply too slippery, so we also took a passenger - a poor lady who had been on her way home from work for three hours. Normally it takes about 50 minutes!
I am so glad we decided to switch to winter tyres this weekend, or I would have had to walk all the way home. But now I am OK again after some champagne tea! Now let´s see how it works tomorrow. Life in public transport in Stockholm is so exciting!

7 comments:

Steve said...

You live in Sweden. It's supposed to be snowy and beautiful. To really understand "Våt om fötterna" you'll have to visit us in the winter. Overall, I recommend summer.

Alanna Kellogg said...

Cesaria Evora? I'd fight snow and cold to see that concert ... but whoa, what a commute!

Pene said...

We woke up this morning to see everything all white. Very pretty! But the car doors were frozen shut.
Stay warm!

Pille said...

Same here - it started snowing yesterday and today I woke up to a white and beautiful morning! It's freezing though, but like Pene, I live in Estonia, so I expect nothing less:)
I saw Cesaria Evora in Edinburgh 2 years ago - she was wonderful!!!

Anonymous said...

Hey Kristina! Just heard from my friend in Uppsala that it snowed already... Wow. I can't believe it will soon be already one year since I went to Stockholm!

I just finished all the academic requirements for my degree and am waiting for a final mark for my thesis... it's kinda scary moment. ;-p Fingers crossed! I'll be here till the end of this year, doing some work for those people on the tiny island b/w central station and Gamla Stan... Yep, I'm still working for them from Brisbane! :-)

Anonymous said...

Just don't know what to say to that - certainly I don't have the Swedish word for it even though you've given me many there.
Snow is beautiful but only for play and watching not commuting!
Stay warm - I check back for some soup recipes.

Clivia said...

Hi all,
it is not so cold anymore but I hope the snow will return in a month or so - when it is wanted and needed for Christmas feeling!