The big news is the cold. In case you haven't been following the European weather, we're in the midst of a deep, deep freeze. It snowed in Marseilles yesterday and in Spain today, and it hasn't gotten above freezing here in Mons since we got back last week.
Tonight there was a story about what they have to do to get barges through the boat elevator on the central canal, since both the canal and the elevator are frozen. There were also stories on the SPCA sheltering homeless folks' pets and farmers' efforts to thaw water for the cows (who are, remember, in the barn for the winter). Last night they did a piece on the demand for home heating fuel these days and how long people have to wait for delivery. "They should think and plan ahead!" one provider said. Then there were the kids sledding, down a snow-covered hill (instead of off the roof, if I heard correctly...).
What's really interesting is all the different accents I'm hearing. Some sound positively Canadian. This will definitely require more research.
2 comments:
Re: The home heating problem relating to not planning ahead for fuel -- I'm curious, did the Russian action to cut off natural gas to Europe affect Mons? (Maybe the local news didn't cover that.)
believe me: the russian gas thing is HUGE news over here, if only so that the belgians can gloat about getting less than 5% of their gas from russia.
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