Spring comes to Moscow

Spring has arrived here in Moscow at last! The snow is gone, and the temperature is finally consistently above freezing! It still goes down to around 2-5C (32-27F) at night, but the days are reaching temperatures around 9-12C (47-54F). We're in the annoying period of spring where the temperature gets drastically warmer in the sun/during the day, but still cold in the mornings and at night, and even in the shade, so you still need a warm jacket. Oh well, in a few more weeks it should get warm enough to finally put the winter coat away!

It's interesting for me to watch the city go through its spring transformations. Growing up in the suburbs, things are different. Spring in the suburbs means people working outside on their yards or maybe preparing their gardens, doing some repairs on their houses, and the first signs of children playing outside. Public parks get flowers planted and some things get painted, if they really need it. Here, children play outside all year round (which I think is wonderful – kids shouldn't just sit around during the winter!), so the sound of children playing doesn't associate with spring at all. All the work is done by migrant workers, it seems, rather than the citizens. Moscow doesn't like its workers to be idle. Two weeks ago, they were chopping ice and shoveling snow, now they're painting things. Literally, anything that can be painted is being painted! They're even painting the manhole covers and trashcans!!!

Everything really does look nice with a fresh coat of paint – but the smell… well, that is anything but nice. They're using a really heavy duty oil based paint, and it's got such a terribly strong odor. The places that they're painting in the sun are the worst – the hot sun just exacerbates the smell! Add that to the pollution from all the cars… UGH! Moscow is not good for the lungs, I think.

Daily sights and sounds

I suppose when I look back on my first winter in Moscow many years from now, a few things will stick out in my memory. The snow, of course, is one of those things, but there are a few other sights and sounds that are distinctively 'Moscow'. The first is the sound of a shovel scraping the ground. It's what I woke up to at least half of the days this winter, and what I heard all day for the better part of the past two months! If it wasn't scraping, it was chopping to break up the thick layer of packed down snow, from everyone walking on it. Moscow is nothing if not efficient at snow removal!

The other memories are all sights. One, the huge force of migrant workers who are out all hours of the day and night clearing the snow. Two, babushkas brushing snow away with an old fashioned broom made from twigs that looks like they've had for the past five decades. Three, men on roofs clearing off the snow and icicles, typically without any kind of protection whatsoever - just standing and balancing, perhaps leaning against a small railing at the edge of the roof.