SNOW SNOW SNOW!

You would think that because Finland gets a lot of snow - that everybody hates it.
But that's not true!
Because it's dark by 4pm...if not earlier...and the sun doesn't come peeking out until about 9-10am...it's pretty dark out!  The snow acts as a reflector of the street lights and it brightens up the area A LOT.

But at the same time, it has it's down sides too....like having to bundle yourself and your kids up in at least 3 layers....pushing a stroller with hard plastic wheels can be a complete pain when there's clumps of snow in the way (or the sidewalk has yet to be plowed)....oh and then half the side walk is usually gone too.

And a word of caution:

For some reason - Finnish drivers do not (doesn't apply to all) sweep the snow off the roof of their vehicles.
Can we say: DANGEROUS?!

• Scenario #1: Think of it this way...you're the driver behind the jerk who didn't sweep off their roof...a bit of warm air, a breeze or a sharp turn or brake - and POW!  You have tonnes of snow and possibly ice on your windshield...you can't see...it's a green light and you can't see.
  You're swerving...the people behind you are swerving...and the jerk up ahead is trucking along totally oblivious to the hazard they just caused you.
  
• Scenario #2: You're a cyclist (yes Finns ride their bikes in the winter) and you get a face full of snow....and then you fall and possibly get hit by someone else from behind or on the side.

• Scenario #3: Scenario 1 happens and your windshield cracks...it's totally possible with the weight of ice and snow and speed and other physics-related things...and 1 little tiny crack can cause you a huge-assed problem.  It'll spread and it costs a TONNE of money to replace your whole windshield!

So please, PLEASE, PLEASE...wipe the snow off the roof of your car.

Onto other Dangerous Snow-Related Accidents in Finland:

• Be cautious of walking under trees....they are heavy with snow and probably some ice because it's been raining....it hurts quite a bit when a chunk falls and smacks you in the face, head or neck.
• Be VERY cautious of walking near tall buildings...sometimes people are on the roof shovelling the ice and snow off and it hurts a lot if you get hit.  Normally there's someone below telling the shoveller when pedestrians are walking by....not always.
• Sometimes ice and snow just falls off the roof of buildings - the taller the building, the faster the fall, the harder it'll hit you.  So try to not walk glued to the sides/fronts of a building....

Many pine trees are so old that the weight of the snow is weighing down their branches and they are SNAPPING off...so be careful!

Off to New Brunswick!

Today the family and I are off to New Brunswick.
New Brunswick is the next province over (to the left) of Nova Scotia - where we are currently residing and where we were born and raised.

Why New Brunswick?  Well, Tim has another conference to attend!  Had he not had another conference - we would've been back in Finland by now I imagine.
While I do have some relatives in NB - we will not be anywhere close to visiting them unfortunately!
The weather in NB I hear, is supposed to be nice, hot and muggy (darn humidity!).  Click here for this week's weather forecast in Fredericton, New Brunswick (the capital of NB).

Our plans are to travel this morning (waiting on hubby to finish getting ready and for the baby to sleep a bit more) and arrive there by 1pm or so.
We'll be staying with good friends who live near Fredericton, whom I haven't seen in years!! And meeting up with other friends during our 3 day, 2 nights stay.

From there - we'll go back to New Glasgow (well really - it's Westville) and spend Wednesday night and Thursday -day here....then off we go Thursday night!

We're flying a much faster route from Halifax to St. John's, Newfoundland to London's Heathrow Airport....to Helsinki!
Then that dreaded train ride to Jyv�skyl�!! 3.5 hours and probably a quick 10-minute bus ride from downtown with all our junk and a kid on our back.  Wahoo!

Other than that - we've mostly been pigging out on Wendy's - Tim's favourite being the spicy chicken combo...and me with any sized burger with a tonne of pickles....unfortunately - not everybody understands how much I love pickles - so I simply stick with "____ burger combo with a ____ and extra pickles".  I usually prefer saying it about 4-5x - to really get a tonne of pickles (so I hope) - but it's never -or very rarely, the case.

Alright! Time to wake the munchkin....see you later!