It’s becoming a bit boring.

Yes, Bucharest is covered in snow again, and no, nobody is doing anything about it. It will be days before we even see the car again, let alone drive it.

Yet it was always thus, and will remain so for years to come. This is a city in which it snows every year, and in which there is snow on the ground for weeks at a time. That really is all there is to it.

It has been a bit deeper this weekend than in the past, and in Bucharest the schools have been closed today: they may well be closed tomorrow.

So let’s take a couple of days off and enjoy it.

Life is too short to continually moan about nobody cleaning the streets.

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?