Snow and the city

The British Isles are being hammered  and battered by the 'Beast from the East', an abnormally cold weather system. This week Rome woke up to snow. The commune di Roma had taken the precaution the night before of closing all the schools amid jeers and laughter. Nobody thought it would snow, or at least, snow enough to warrant closing the schools. Instead, it did.

Monday morning I pulled up the shutters to a surreal vision. Already from the strange silence I'd guessed that something had happened. An eerie glow through the shutter slats had given an early indication. I faced a pure snowy white roof, to my left the branches of the trees were sagging under the weight of the snow. I peered four floors down at the road all covered in a white slick, I saw some footprints on the pavement. "Oh shit!" was all I could think.

The previous snowy spell had been five years ago and resulted in panic as the Mayor at the time, Alemanno, rather tardily decided to close schools. He was largely criticised for mis-handling the situation and not having paid enough attention to the weather forecast. A week later another flurry being predicted he closed the schools in advance. The flurry was merely a few flakes of lazy melting snow not worth closing down the city for. He couldn't win. Again he was criticised.

This time the town hall had taken pre-emptive action. Sadly, the Mayor Raggi was soundly criticised for being in Mexico, on a world climate summit (irony of ironies), rather than in Rome dealing with the snow hands on. 

In the end my fears came to nothing. Schools were closed so happy children got to spend a day at home and outside playing with unfamiliar snow balls and building small snowmen. In the parks some attempted a little sleighing.  Most public administration offices were closed too. A large part of the bus network ground to a halt though the two metro lines were unaffected. And I and my colleagues got an unexpected day off which was all the more appreciated for having come unexpectedly.

The next day most schools and public administration offices remained closed. Overnight temperatures had dropped to well below seasonal norms and the city authorities had decided to limit road traffic. Nevertheless, as I walked my dog on slippery pavements, I noticed a massive traffic jam was forming in my area. It seemed most people had chosen to go back to work.

Rome isn't a city that deals well with snow, it can barely deal with heavy rain fall. Sewers get blocked and roads turn to rivers. Likewise as the snow rapidly turned to slush and branches that had crashed down from the umbrella pines clogged the drain holes, cold water accumulated along the sides of roads. 

By the third day the temperatures shot up again though there, for a while, remained the threat of more snow, more cold temperatures. It hasn't happened. Now it looks as if Rome is back on its normal course towards the Spring. Anyway there's an election to take care of!