Bucharest is a city of extremes (we’ve used that line elsewhere…). It is usually far too hot during the summer, and more often than not far too cold during the winter. During December, January and February there is a high possibility of serious snowfall. There will often be snow on the ground during March and even April too.
So the fact that today, on December 15th, it is snowing, is no big deal. Expect, however, news programmes to worry their heads with little else. The cliches are being taken off the shelves, polished up for another winter of use and abuse.
Indeed, so predictable are the stock phrases used on Romanian television news programmes (a phenomenon we wrote about a while back) that local humourist Radu Paraschivescu recently published a book about them. It is a very funny book, and if we thought that there would be an audience of more than about twelve people we would contact him about the English language rights.
Primii care s-au bucurat de zapada au fost, bineinteles, copiii.
Zapade este numai buna de ski, si iubitorii sporturilor de iarna sunt asteptati in statiunile de pe Valea Prahovei unde distractia este la ea acasa.
(Send us any more winter cliches you might have…)
But do you know what: in those first few hours after the snow falls, Bucharest can look half decent. Covered in a blanket of crisp white snow the city moves beyond its general bleakness and instead becomes attractively bleak. A bit like Chelsea under Jose Mourinho.
The problems start of course the next day, when Bucharest’s administration tries to pretend that it is in control of the situation. Expect chaos on the streets (especially as, if predicted, the snow continues all day and all night) and prepare to get very little done. To all intents and purposes, Bucharest will be at a standstill tomorrow. We should be thankful the schools have already broken up for the winter holidays.
For a city that has to face heavy snowfall every year, Bucharest is pathetic at dealing with it.
Or are we just being cynical?
Who’s to say that come tomorrow the streets will be clear of snow, and that life will go on more or less as normal?
{ 12 comments… read them below or add one }
Nice website, hope you continue to work on it ^_^
@Davin They can barely manage to keep the main roads clear. You expect the side streets and pavements to be cleared to? No way!
Why is there no snow removal here on the side streets and on sidewalks?! I have never seen anything like this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2tOajBCvVk&feature=related
Talking about Radu Paraschivescu, he wrote another nice book called Ghidul Nesimtitului (roughly translated as: “Pocket guide for the Bounder-wannabe”) in which many of the usual Romanian bad habits are described with humour.
That would also deserve to be translated
Hey, it looks like we’re Radu Paraschivescu fans
Yes, a Dacia or an Aro do just fine. Up in Maramures where I am headed soon, we use sledges though
@Parmalat Yes I have been in an Aro. My brother in law owns one, though he seems to spend more time repairing it than driving it.
@Jen Yes the worst part is the mess. When the snow starts melting a bit… when it turns black, and gets your shoes and clothes wet and dirty. But there is a moment, just after it stops snowing, when it is blissful. Just doesn’t last long enough though.
@Craig: ever ridden an ARO? That was some car! You could pull a bus from the snow with an ARO!
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Actually there’s a story from a few years back when a bus got stuck in Sinaia (cota 1400) and they tried to pull it out with a Hummer H1 belonging to BGS but the H1 couldn’t do it and in the end they managed to pull it out with an ARO belonging to a local. An old model, with Romanian engine.
Many years ago when I was 7-8 y.o. I had a neighbour, nenea Florica, who was a repairmen and owned an ARO. And every day he had to repair something on that car. And some of the kids in the neighborhood (myself included) were fascinated when we saw the car torn apart and then assembled back again. And we stayed with nenea Florica for hours watching him repair his ARO.
And when the work was over we took our reward: he used to load 3-4 kids in the back of his ARO and we took a ride in the neighborhood at full speed
Almost 20 years have passed since then, I can’t believe it. Nenea Florica made me a pipe that would shoot paper horns (“teava cu cornete”) because all kids had one but I didn’t know how to make one myself. I don’t think you know what I’m talking about, kids in the West weren’t playing with “teava cu cornete” not even 20 years ago
Look at this article, this is what we were playing with 20 years ago
http://bit.ly/8gMnQS
“the problems start of course the next day” – nah, the problems started 2 hours after the snowfall… I left home in an idyllic Christmas atmosphere and came home through melted dirty slush, cleaned off by workers who simply moved it around since there was no sewer in the area. I’ve never been happier to get home and make a nice cup of tea.
P.S. Thanks for the recommendation, I’ll get the book asap. Sounds… well, sad but funny.
If its OK with all here I’d like to include myself in the Dirty Dozen, D12 or whatever the suitable collective term for mildly interested non-romanian-speaking-englishmen-living-here-in-Bucharest is.
This is my first Romanian winter and I haven’t felt this unprepared since I walked into my final Italian exam when I was 17, carrying with me, I might add, one of the largest, dirtiest hangovers it’s ever been my misfortunes to bring upon myself.
It’s on days like today that those owners discover that their ‘off road’ vehicles are in fact basically crap on anything other than roads. Give me an old Dacia any day.
It’s great to see Bucharest’s nouveaux riche actually having a use for their 100,000 Euro SUVs today! Although most with BMW X5s and X6s, Mercedes AMG SUVs and Porsche Cayennes have racing slicks for their tires, so I don’t think 4WD will be of so much help. A good Land Rover Defender 110 old school style is what is needed on a day like today.