Friday, January 14, 2011

Snow removers

and here they are, the snow removers at our apartment complex!!! we had just gotten outside around 11, and they were already busy at full speed to clear the roads....

Snow emergency

these huge snow mountains were formed by the snow removal team, i think most of the snow that was at the roads of our "living community" has been collected here. we climbed those mountains last night and it was impressive! sooooo much snow.... unfortunately the picture by far does not capture the amount of snow...
when we just arrived in boston, i saw everywhere signs saying "no parking during snow emergency", and real americans also told me that parking there during a snow emergency will result in a high fine and towing of your car. this week i learned that the expectation of a snowstorm sets an entire protocol  in motion that results in an amazingly efficient removal of the snow. tuesday night before the snow, you were not allowed to park your car in streets with the above-mentioned signs; this is because these streets are cleared rom snow first, and most of the snow is pushed onto the parking spaces. other people are removing the snow from the sidewalks and making gaps in the huge piles so you can cross the street. at our apartment complex they started snow removal at 5.30 on wednesday morning, and i think they continued the entire day till late into the evening to create those snow mountains. the next day, they started at 4.30 (morning!!!) to clear the sidewalks. the snow has stopped (although not in New York i read on the dutch news!), but they continue to regularly spread salt on the roads to prevent slippery ice formation....
i guess that was boring, but compared to what i am used to; a little bit of snow in the netherlands and everything is down. no trains, no buses, no snow removal, this and last year even no salt.....