Winter has truly arrived at Bratislava. Endless snowfalls: the whiteness of pristine snow, soft snow giving way beneath a pair of sturdy boots, and the slush bearing the grime of car tyre marks.
On the way to the office, the scenery has been white on white on white, and taxi drivers took the opportunity to take long detours to jack up the fare. On some trips, the taxi fare had nearly doubled, and it took some haggling to bring it down to a reasonable level. It was hard to believe a taxi meter when a normal fare of €7.50 jumped to €13.50. The snow has not dampened the locals' competitiveness nature on the road: the driver who took me to the airport found the skidding on the motorway A4 in winter tyres fun, demonstrating his supreme command of the car in dire wintry road conditions. The motorway to Budapest was closed on the day, and there was a long queue of traffic being redirected to Vienna. But I suspect that the truck drivers with registration plates from Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland are used to these detours in the depth of winter.
Colleagues had kindly offered lifts from the office to the hotel, and one such trip involved scraping the whole day's snow off one side of a Ford estate car. When the soft snow gently peeled off from the scraper, my hands were screaming freezing cold inside the leather gloves.
High heels were rendered useless and most of the time I was shod in my winter ankle boots, which had proved their weight in gold.
These boots were bought for firm support after my second back procedure, to walk the endless miles from airport security to the departure gates, and their doubling up as winter boots in the snow was a pleasant surprise. The tricky part was not walking on soft snow, but mounting and crossing the raised pile of hard snow between the pavement and the kerb. It was as much a state of mind as physical agility to overcome such hurdles.
Indoors, the buildings turned up the temperature to compensate for the sub zero temperature outside. It was not unusual to see shoppers in shopping mall leaving their winter clothing in their car and walking around in T shirts. The smokers of course are cursing the weather: they now have to brave the wind and the cold when they huddle outside the building drawing on their cigarettes. As a result, the fog created by the cigarette smoke immediately outside buildings was much denser than the summer months.
The colleagues are used of course to the snow. Some of them go to work with a spare pair of snow boots, which they keep beside their desk. One even found the time to create a snowman in the balcony, clad in a Santa hat and a seasonal red bikini top. The snowman was still standing there when I left.
On 17th January, Bratislava more or less came to a standstill. Snow fell incessantly and there were traffic warnings on the radio telling the public not to travel into Bratislava unnecessarily. Vienna Airport was closed for about two hours in the afternoon and many flights were cancelled. The airport was heaving with weary travellers waiting in long queues to re-book their flights. Normally a haven of calm and efficiency, Vienna Airport was turned into mass of frustration. This time, the body scanner worked in a super sensitive way and I was whisked off to a booth, fronted by a piece of black cloth, where I was told to lift up my bra for the item of clothing to be scanned. A piece of bra wire could set off the alarm? What kind of machines are these that would cause travellers' privacy to be so grossly invaded?
Back to the eternal queues at Vienna Airport. At the G gates (these are gates where travellers have to present their passports) normally noted for the lack of foot traffic, there was a long queue waiting to rebook their flights. I noted on the departure board that an 09:00 flight to Cairo was delayed to 18:00. But that was lucky. A colleague told me that her sister who had an 06:00 flight from Vienna to Greece returned home to Bratislava at 18:00 not being able to board any flight. It was a day that truly tested my determination to go home and to take things in my stride. There was no pointing fretting over things that I had no control. In any case, I was lucky, my flight to London Heathrow was only delayed for two hours. It is no longer fun to travel on business.
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| Urban landscape, 15.01.13, Bratislava |
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| Dawn breaking over Bratislava, 15.01.13 |
Colleagues had kindly offered lifts from the office to the hotel, and one such trip involved scraping the whole day's snow off one side of a Ford estate car. When the soft snow gently peeled off from the scraper, my hands were screaming freezing cold inside the leather gloves.
High heels were rendered useless and most of the time I was shod in my winter ankle boots, which had proved their weight in gold.
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| This winter's favourite boots |
Indoors, the buildings turned up the temperature to compensate for the sub zero temperature outside. It was not unusual to see shoppers in shopping mall leaving their winter clothing in their car and walking around in T shirts. The smokers of course are cursing the weather: they now have to brave the wind and the cold when they huddle outside the building drawing on their cigarettes. As a result, the fog created by the cigarette smoke immediately outside buildings was much denser than the summer months.
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| A snow man created by a colleague |
On 17th January, Bratislava more or less came to a standstill. Snow fell incessantly and there were traffic warnings on the radio telling the public not to travel into Bratislava unnecessarily. Vienna Airport was closed for about two hours in the afternoon and many flights were cancelled. The airport was heaving with weary travellers waiting in long queues to re-book their flights. Normally a haven of calm and efficiency, Vienna Airport was turned into mass of frustration. This time, the body scanner worked in a super sensitive way and I was whisked off to a booth, fronted by a piece of black cloth, where I was told to lift up my bra for the item of clothing to be scanned. A piece of bra wire could set off the alarm? What kind of machines are these that would cause travellers' privacy to be so grossly invaded?
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| Travel disruption at Vienna Airport, 17.01.13 |
