How interesting to watch the variety of machines/methods of dealing with snow today. A light dusting overnight in Zurich turned into a heavier fall as we drove south, towards Chur this morning. We passed snowploughs of every shape and size: large, road-sized leviathans, operating in pairs clearing the whole width of the motorway as a l-o-n-g slow moving queue formed behind them. On ordinary roads, there were smaller, tractor sized machines which held the traffic up in a similar way before turning off into a side road to return, clearing the other side. Along the pavements were small, lawn mower ploughs with rubber squeegee type blades in front, driving a little way behind the road ploughs so they could scoop up the fallout and deposit it in a neat ridge along the roadside. Neatest of all and the one machine which brought a glint into Mark's eye were the small, red snowblowers which people were using to clear their drives and shopfronts.
Let's say the Swiss are pretty good at clearing snow. But, come on, don't tell me you're surprised!
It's been a good day and we don't need to do a great deal to enjoy being here. We pottered around a little, winding up in Rapperswil late afternoon in time for a pre-concert supper. In the short time it took us to eat a pizza, a couple of inches more snow fell and we sat listening to Raff's Winter Symphony in the church in Lachen, his birthplace, wondering how much more snow we'd find when we emerged. We were relieved to find only another inch or two, so we declined the kind offers of after-concert drinks from generous hosts and took the direct motorway route back to Zurich.
Fortunately the snowploughs were working in the opposite direction, having cleared our side already.
Maybe we'll take a train tomorrow?