It's winter wonderland week...

Yes, mid-week has passed, and after three days of snowflakes flurrying around, there has been a pause in snowing last night. Well, after about up to nine inches (around 23 cm) of snow falling in the past three days, I'd say, it's time for a break, in order to let municipal services clear the streets properly - and some sidewalks and bus stops, too...

For an urban, flatland region like the Ruhr Megalopolis, this much snow is quite a lot, really.

We might see a very beautiful side of winter in the days to come, since there's cloudy, sometimes fair conditions forecast for Friday. However, there have been nice moments already, starting on Monday, when the first snow fell, and I still had hopes of public transport running almost normally... after all, at least one bus had braved the trip to my usual bus stop (but it was running late, of course, making me miss my relay, resulting in me being late for work - just like most people). And at work, I could see, that the office janitor had a new toy to play with...

On Tuesday morning, I saw that another few inches of snow had fallen, and despite the frosty conditions (mid 20s Fahrenheit, around -5°C) that fresh fluffy snow was beckoning me to try how it feels on my bare feet. So, when arriving at the office place, I slipped out of my closed-toes Briks, and enjoyed a short walk (about 30 meters) from the parking lot to the rear entrance of the building - that felt just as invigorating as an extra cup of coffee... and it prevented my feet from suffering from cabin fever, since these conditions call for wearing shoes, according to my barefoot comfort temperature chart...

I'm quite sure that seeing the bare footprints in the snow boggled the minds of some people who arrived there after me.

But it's not just the frost and snow that makes me wear shoes at the moment - in many places, grit and rock salt have been strewn liberally onto sidewalks and around bus and tram stops. While this is done for the general safety of people (anti-skid measures), walking barefoot on that stuff is quite unpleasant. Especially salt, melting snow and ice, leaves sub-freezing cold puddles which are likely to lead to cold damage on my feet, if I were to walk through them. Therefore, I choose the slightly unpleasant feeling of walking with my feet hidden in those foot coffins for a little while, hoping and praying for milder days... and those will come, too.

Until then, I will continue trying to frind beauty in the current wintery conditions... after all, it has a certain winter wonderland look to it, at times... for instance yesterday morning... even under street lights, it looks a little magical. And I am not the only one braving the snow barefoot... in the second picture: a rabbit did so too... I hope, it quickly found a safe burrow to warm up its paws again.

I guess, winter will go on, at least until we get the verdict on Feb. 2 - for the show ain't over, until the fat Groundhog sings. As stated above, I (and my bare feet) wouldn't mind a few mild days, though.