Shovelling Snow Is Hard Work.

Quite the opposite from yesterday's blog post, eh?

The sky has a habit of turning to a cooler shade of a grey each time it snows. Unlike Autumn where the sky is much darker and feels so much more gloomier, Winter skies are much brighter. Perhaps it's the surrounding snow that reflects the light up which makes everything seem much sharper.

But yesterday it pretty much snowed all day.

At one point it even looked like there was a semi-blizzard going on right outside my window. You know how i said i thought we would be at the arse end of the huge snow cloud, turns out we were pretty much right in the middle. It has been drifting across Germany and parts of Europe causing chaos on the highways and several towns.

Apparently, by law residents are forced to clear the snow away from their entrance and the sidewalk directly outside their home. Osnabrück, a city about an hour away from here, has even gone to great lengths of writing out 50 Euro fines to those who do not clear their walkway.

So when J got home at 7 PM last night, he called me to say we should clear the driveway.

I forgot to take my camera out but i couldn't believe how much snow had fallen in just a few hours. Everything was completely covered and i was standing in snow at least 15 cm deep.


It took J and i about an hour to clear the driveway and my arms were so sore by the end of it.

But each time i thought i was done clearing the snow, i would turn around only to see that the falling snow had already started covering it up.

It was so annoying!

I eventually gave up because i had already prepared dinner and i was really hungry. So i ran upstairs to get my camera so i could just take a few snaps of all my hard work.

Then this morning as i was saying good-bye to J, i had a peek outside to see if there was anymore snow. Turns out our landlord had a go clearing the driveway too and must have sprinkled road salt at the front because the ground is now clear of snow.


Check out that small snow hill we've created beside the driveway. It just keeps getting bigger! Now the concern is the snow melting and turning to ice.

***

This is my view from my work/guest room window. I can't imagine what the rest of the town looks like, let alone those cities covered in snow as deep as a metre and more.

It wouldn't surprise me if people start bustin' out their skis to get to work.

08:04

So anyway, as i was attempting to take a panoramic view of right outside the room this morning, Yoshi thought he would be smart and jump onto the balcony via the open window.


But i don't think he thought that idea through very well. I had to then call him back inside with the help of his favorite crumpled up plastic bag.

Who needs expensive toys when one can just recycle.

Seriously though, there's so much snow on our Christmas tree outside, i don't think switching on the lights would even make much of a difference.

And with Christmas only 8 days away, it looks like it's going to be a frosty one. Which by the way, we will be driving up north to be with J's brothers, his elder brothers' girlfriend, mother and grandma.

Yup, it will be my very first Christmas with J and his side of the family.

And even though J and i have been together for just over three years and i know him and his family since i was thirteen, family gatherings still make me slightly anxious.