Ice, ice, baby

Ice fishing/Pilki: From Helsinki/Porvoo January 09

In the last couple of weeks (yes I know it's a bit late, but hey - this a blog not a news service) Helsinki has finally had enough snow (10-25 cm) and a cold enough period (-10 to -15°C for several days) for the lakes/sea inlets to freeze properly/thick enough to be walked on (I heard it's about 15 cm). With the cold temperatures came a few days of clear skies and the sun skimming over the roof-tops and tree line, bringing out skiers, skaters and ice-hole fishers to enjoy the ice and snow.

Unlike the UK, Finland hasn't run out of salt and grit yet, and life just carries on in these conditions (which of course are normal/mild winter here), but at a cost in resources and equipment which I imagine would be difficult to justify when only used a few days a year, or every 4 or 5 years on the recent scale:

Local councils [in UK] spent £138m last year on clearing snow and ice. The Highways Agency spends another £30m on average.
But Finland, which has a similar sized road network to the UK, spends more than £400m. [source BBC]

In fact there has been some debate here that in Helsinki (particularly younger people) are getting used to milder, less cold/snowy winters and aren't so prepared for harsher weather (there was a recent case reported of child dying in -20°C in a sledge while parents were skiing); and that drivers (particularly bus drivers) are less used to driving in snow here now. 

There is also the cost to individual drivers, as by law you have to fit winter tyres which are going to set you back several hundred £/€ at least (probably more as most people by a whole second set of wheels).  This also means that snow ploughs and diggers start clearing the snow at 4am so that everyone can get to work... not a quiet operation outside your bedroom window I can assure you!

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The snow and ice is just as slippery here as anywhere else, and despite best efforts to grit and sand (not much salt though, Finland is cutting back as it pollutes it's many lakes as well as hardening your arteries) every square centimetre of Helsinki, while out walking on Sunday I still managed to slip and land on my knee, while simultaneously straining my calf (how is that even physically possible?) - so have been limping around ever since. Maybe I will have to get spiky winter over shoes like the grannies wear...