flood!!

Yesterday we had a LOT of water in St. P! It's been so warm (10 C...so 52 F yesterday at 9 a.m. as reported by second grade) that ice upstream has melted. The Neva was very full. We even had the possibility of a DAY OFF today because the sewage and water supply at school was...compromised. Teachers were instructed to take class phone lists home and the office staff was scrambling to locate portable loos.

Unfortunately for those of us who long for "snow days" (a middle school teacher was calling our possibility a "toilet day") the water resided and we had class as usual today. Still, the possibility of a day off combined with the first blue sky we've had in months** had me fairly skipping home. Plus, I love wind. It's just so big and so powerful! I sang all the way across the bridge and out to dinner (at a yummy Georgian place nearby) with friends.

Here are some pictures I took walking home:

I think this captured it best for me. This is a set of steps that leads down to the river. You can usually walk down and, I don't know...fish? Do something with a boat? But check out the submerged handrailing!


This is Troitsky Most. Usually there is room for large hydrofoils to sail under these arches. The round outcropping on the right is street level--usually far above river level.

And this is an attempt to show you a little of the wind. This is looking towards Foundry Bridge and Smolney Cathedral. It's probably about 4:20 p.m. Note the sunset just starting. Days are getting longer!

**Christmas Day, 25 December, was a clear day. But, it was the only clear day we had in December! November wasn't much better. It's been a very overcast autumn. I think I saw more blue sky when I spent winters in England!