at last! a real snowstorm!
by the Mama, who is not ready to be on the homeward leg of the trip
Train 5 (day 2), travelling through Siberia
We all wake at approximately the same time – that would be when the train draws to a stop at Krasnoyarsk station. The halt of the rocking motion acts as an alarm clock. But what time it says is a mystery. Over the course of four days we will pass through six time zones. One of them can be entirely ignored as it pushes our clocks forward for a few hours on the track. The remaining five hours we are slowly absorbing backwards in our self-devised system of putting watches back an hour and a quarter each morning. One of the children commented it’s like having daylight savings every day for a week! At least we won’t suffer from jetlag.
To add to our confusion, the train (and all train station clocks) run to Moscow time, a factor that is singularly unhelpful when according to the clock it’s supposedly midday, but the sun has not yet risen.
And so we wake up, around 6ish BearsTime. What a good day to be early. Mboy6 bounces in to our compartment, “The sellers are coming back. The handbag lady sold ALL of hers.”
If we’d been awake before the station, we’d have known one with a scheduled stop of more than two minutes, was approaching. Every time there’s such a stop, like an army of ants, our fellow passengers, the Seller Ladies, march in single file along the corridor. One has five black shiny fake leather handbags hanging from her arm. Another has a dozen shirts in white and green draped across hers. Three carry identical bundles of blue parkas. An honorary Seller Lady (a man) is accompanied by his travelling companion, the bottom half of a mannequin in bright tights, the rest of his wares bundled into a bag. One scurries by with four salamis, and once we’ve stopped, is soon back for more, customers walking away down the platform sniffing their purchases. Money and goods are exchanged right there beside the train. More pro-active bargain-hunters climb aboard, racing from compartment to compartment seeing what is on offer. As the stop time draws to a close, the platform-side windows become the shop counter. A pair of jeans is handed out, held up for inspection and returned with shaking of head and hand signals indicating the prospective buyer would like a smaller pair. Unfortunately seller cannot oblige. At the next window another handbag finds a new owner. A third transaction from this carriage is cut short as the train eases its way along the platform and gathers speed too quickly to allow negotiations to be concluded.
At another stop yesterday one of the sellers had returned beaming, two plastic pump pots her trophy. I guess you need a bit of insider information to know how and where and for how much to secure such purchases!
We are beaming too. Even before we start breakfast preparations there’s something else to take our minds off rumbling tummies. IT’S SNOWING! Real white falling mesmerising snowflakes close to the train merge into complete white-out conditions in the distance. We’re in for a storm! Everyone stands in the corridor, leaning against the cold metal bar across the window, watching watching watching. Kgirl10 notices it looks like the flakes are falling fast sideways, but she knows it’s just the train’s movement resulting in that illusion. The further into the more-than-just-a-flurry we travel, the whiter the evergreens become. With the bare black-and-white silver birch trunks standing coldly alongside, the white-dusted pine trees make a striking picture.
All of a sudden the children realise the snow is outside and we are inside with no prospects of getting out. Their wonder and excitement anti-climax into a mild disappointment. Understandable. No-one actually complains, but there is a hint of longing in their voices as they discuss what it would be like to be outside in the white.
One even requests that we stay in Europe until the next snow! I’m with her on that sentiment <wink>
Tags: postcard: Russia, transport, weather
rayres
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