Everywhere the only thing people seem to talk about is the severe weather and its effects on everyone. Talk seems to take on either of these two types: Dickensian or Londonian. In other words, either one complains about the sheer unbearableness of the situation or how overrated all the complaints really are about. Inevitably the women complain about the cold and the men say it's actually small potatoes.
This kind of discussion is also taking place online. On the Beeb's website, a debate has been triggered by a Canadian and an American about how Russia is again failing its citizens for not being more ready to cope with a situation that's supposedly normal in these parts. Of course anyone who has actually lived here in these last three or four years can attest that Russian winters in general tended toward mildness. In fact the last time such sustained low temperatures were recorded was more than a generation ago in the winter of 1978-1979, when temperatures dropped to minus 38 degrees Celsius. The 1940 Moscow record of minus 42.1 degrees Celsius could be broken, the newsru.com Web site reported, citing meteorologists.
The fact remains that this winter has been deadly even to Russians, who people outside the country believe should have the superhuman ability to be accustomed to this kind of climate. Overnight the temperatures in Moscow plunged to -30 C, killing the homeless and drunks, and threatening power supplies.
Of course, there were offbeat stories as well. Moscow's coldest spell in 26 years brought out the quirkiest in the Russian character with one animal trainer feeding an elephant a bucket of vodka to warm it up -- only to watch the drunken beast set about wrecking the central heating system.
Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky led other publicity-hungry politicians by plunging into a bitterly cold pond in early morning Christian Orthodox ceremonies.
In Moscow, emergency medical services quoted by Interfax news agency said a further seven people had died overnight from exposure and another 25 people were being treated in hospital. The total number of casualties from the cold in Moscow since the end of October has now risen to 116 people.
One report stated that many of the victims are often drunks who perish in outlying areas after passing out, and their snow-covered bodies are sometimes discovered only after the thaw approaching spring several weeks later. Although I can attest myself to witnessing the death of a homeless man near the Smolenskaya Metro station on my first winter here, this bit about not being found for weeks on end sounded fantastic even on first reading. Rightly a Russian reader on the Beeb expressed similar incredulity at this report.
Apart from the inconvenience of finding my car dead-stalled, there was also the matter of the cold quickly depleting mobile phone batteries, playing havoc with lifts, stalling LCD watches and even jamming automated cash dispensers. Fortunately for me I've managed to stay clear of these enterprising young men who try to turn a quick profit by leasing out their jump leads at a hefty cost: I've nonetheless requested either Lyosha or Vlad to help me jumpstart Balios.
Of course, this one takes the booby prize. According to one newspaper, a 45-year-old man in Mordovia, east of Moscow, was treated for frostbite to four fingers for talking too long on a mobile phone in the freezing temperatures. Fortunately for him he wasn't out tonight, when temperatures are predicted to fall possibly to -34 C, or even colder in rural areas around the city.
How did the cold affect the energy situation? Russia had to reduce gas supplies to Europe to make sure its own domestic supplies were stable. Some companies are even working with lights off and computers turned on in the dark (to bizarre effect). Anna told me the government was encouraging some enterprises to take today and tomorrow off, and work over the weekend instead to make sure the electricity grid doesn't collapse due to the huge spike in demand - "high risk", according to Moscow power company Mosenergo.
Another item I viewed with much skepticism is the report that in Noyabrsk in the Arctic part of Western Siberia, Noyabrskneftegaz oil company had suspended drilling operations because of the extreme cold. I didn't know oil froze at such temperatures.
For a slice of the bigger picture and how life in the streets is affected by this unusual spell, let me quote the following news story I found on Moscow Times.
Conventional wisdom holds that Russians are less susceptible to the cold, as if they were possessed of a physionomy better able to withstand negative temperatures. Such views are reinforced by Russians themselves. The truth is actually more prosaic; as Russians themselves say: "There is no such thing as cold weather, only inadequate clothing." Better prepared for the cold, they were able to outlast and use to their advantage the legendary frosts that defeated the armies of Napoleon and Hitler. Not surprisingly macho and as image-conscious as your average Latin American politico, Russian male politicians sought to use the occasion to enhance their image by doing a walrus.
This kind of discussion is also taking place online. On the Beeb's website, a debate has been triggered by a Canadian and an American about how Russia is again failing its citizens for not being more ready to cope with a situation that's supposedly normal in these parts. Of course anyone who has actually lived here in these last three or four years can attest that Russian winters in general tended toward mildness. In fact the last time such sustained low temperatures were recorded was more than a generation ago in the winter of 1978-1979, when temperatures dropped to minus 38 degrees Celsius. The 1940 Moscow record of minus 42.1 degrees Celsius could be broken, the newsru.com Web site reported, citing meteorologists.
The fact remains that this winter has been deadly even to Russians, who people outside the country believe should have the superhuman ability to be accustomed to this kind of climate. Overnight the temperatures in Moscow plunged to -30 C, killing the homeless and drunks, and threatening power supplies.
Of course, there were offbeat stories as well. Moscow's coldest spell in 26 years brought out the quirkiest in the Russian character with one animal trainer feeding an elephant a bucket of vodka to warm it up -- only to watch the drunken beast set about wrecking the central heating system.Ultranationalist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky led other publicity-hungry politicians by plunging into a bitterly cold pond in early morning Christian Orthodox ceremonies.
In Moscow, emergency medical services quoted by Interfax news agency said a further seven people had died overnight from exposure and another 25 people were being treated in hospital. The total number of casualties from the cold in Moscow since the end of October has now risen to 116 people.
One report stated that many of the victims are often drunks who perish in outlying areas after passing out, and their snow-covered bodies are sometimes discovered only after the thaw approaching spring several weeks later. Although I can attest myself to witnessing the death of a homeless man near the Smolenskaya Metro station on my first winter here, this bit about not being found for weeks on end sounded fantastic even on first reading. Rightly a Russian reader on the Beeb expressed similar incredulity at this report.
Apart from the inconvenience of finding my car dead-stalled, there was also the matter of the cold quickly depleting mobile phone batteries, playing havoc with lifts, stalling LCD watches and even jamming automated cash dispensers. Fortunately for me I've managed to stay clear of these enterprising young men who try to turn a quick profit by leasing out their jump leads at a hefty cost: I've nonetheless requested either Lyosha or Vlad to help me jumpstart Balios.
Of course, this one takes the booby prize. According to one newspaper, a 45-year-old man in Mordovia, east of Moscow, was treated for frostbite to four fingers for talking too long on a mobile phone in the freezing temperatures. Fortunately for him he wasn't out tonight, when temperatures are predicted to fall possibly to -34 C, or even colder in rural areas around the city.
How did the cold affect the energy situation? Russia had to reduce gas supplies to Europe to make sure its own domestic supplies were stable. Some companies are even working with lights off and computers turned on in the dark (to bizarre effect). Anna told me the government was encouraging some enterprises to take today and tomorrow off, and work over the weekend instead to make sure the electricity grid doesn't collapse due to the huge spike in demand - "high risk", according to Moscow power company Mosenergo.
Another item I viewed with much skepticism is the report that in Noyabrsk in the Arctic part of Western Siberia, Noyabrskneftegaz oil company had suspended drilling operations because of the extreme cold. I didn't know oil froze at such temperatures.
For a slice of the bigger picture and how life in the streets is affected by this unusual spell, let me quote the following news story I found on Moscow Times.
State schools have given parents the option of keeping their children at home. Police have been told to find places for the homeless to shelter rather than clear them from doorways, stairwells and metro stations as they normally do.No one seemed willing to make a fearless forecast on how long the cold would last.
"The present cold is unique by its duration, which will either be a record or be close to a record," Russia's chief meteorologist Roman Vilfand was quoted as saying on Thursday. In an interview with Vremya Novostei newspaper, he forecast temperatures falling to minus 32 or minus 34 Celsius in Moscow on Friday.
In Strogino, on the city's outskirts, other Orthodox believers, some of them old people dressed in long shirts, trooped from church down a lake where they lowered themselves into the bitter waters, immersing their heads and crossing themselves three times in accordance with tradition.
"I'm not scared of minus 30. I do this every year usually in the north. It's a lot colder there," businessman Viktor Shuliakovsky told Reuters, his naked torso steaming in the open air after he emerged from the water.
Conventional wisdom holds that Russians are less susceptible to the cold, as if they were possessed of a physionomy better able to withstand negative temperatures. Such views are reinforced by Russians themselves. The truth is actually more prosaic; as Russians themselves say: "There is no such thing as cold weather, only inadequate clothing." Better prepared for the cold, they were able to outlast and use to their advantage the legendary frosts that defeated the armies of Napoleon and Hitler. Not surprisingly macho and as image-conscious as your average Latin American politico, Russian male politicians sought to use the occasion to enhance their image by doing a walrus.
