Back in the middle of December, and again 10 days later (through the new year) Dublin experienced alot of snow. This area doesn’t usually get snow (before the a single snow dusting in the winter of 2009, most areas had been snow-free for over 18 years!) and the winter sees mostly rain. The result has been interesting – especially for a girl who has lived in other areas of the world that get alot of snow (Utah, Russia, Germany) plans for it, deals for it, and each person takes responsibility for their “area”.

Things I’ve learned about snow in Ireland – just since these two snow storms – which amount to cultural differences (in most cases):

a) There’s only one snowplow for all of Dublin

b) There are only 2 snow plows for all of the Greater Dublin area

c) There is just not grit/sand here for the roads – let alone the sidewalks, so while major streets may get cleared/salted – nothing else is.

d)  Culturally, people don’t/won’t clear their own personal walkways in front of their houses (this includes steps).  I don’t know if this is because they are lazy, don’t care, don’t know how to, or simply don’t have the “equipment” to do it.  (I removed my snow by a stiff broom – and did so repeatedly during the last storm.) It’s made transportation – and yes, even walking dangerous when there’s snow/ice on the ground.

e) My property management for my apartment complex won’t clear the snow either.  In fact, they sent out notices saying that the maintenance crews would only “grit” the places on the road where people turn in off the main road – and they didn’t get paid to clear the roads, sidewalks or etc.  On the same notice that they sent – they were stating that the fees that were paid (how they were spent), and how the insurance cost for the complex was very expensive.  (Really? and it’s not negligent to leave the sidewalks/parking areas/streets uncleared and dangerous to walk – someone falling because of this doesn’t raise your property insurance? Wankers!)

f) The government isn’t being held accountable/responsible (see more below), and they’re not holding anyone else responsible.  Regarding points d/e – The Taoisech (Prime Minister) of Ireland recently made a statement saying that property owners can’t be held liable for claims on their property due to injury during snow this winter – because it was a natural “happening” and as long as their due diligence had been done, then there could be no lawsuit.  The problem is – that due diligence here, is obviously NOT due diligence where some of the other places I’ve lived is concerned.  (Due diligence here in Ireland being that it’s snow, people shouldn’t go out in it until it’s melted, if you do, it’s your own risk… and other places being – let me shovel my own walk – so that people that might cross my property aren’t at such a high risk!)

g) There’s no public water for several hours each day because of poor planning, so make sure to have extra water on hand.  aka – Water restrictions?!? Really? Who the HELL Turns off their water on the coldest nights of the year?!? (Warning Rant below)

Back during the first snow storm – in the middle of December, there was a heightened use of water in Dublin – as we ran up to Christmas – as people were turning on taps to keep pipes from freezing, took extra showers to get warm, cooked more food, and had relatives in town, etc.  Because of this, the Dublin water council and many of the surrounding districts began removing pressure from the pipes.  The result was that the reservoirs were slightly re-filled.  However, not enough, and soon reached “critical” levels.  So, they began turning off the water between 7pm and 7am on different nights according to a schedule that they released only a matter of a few hours before they actually turned off the water.

The thing with turning off the water is this – it’s not just the water to my tap that’s getting turned off.  Much like most of the homes here, my heat is tied into my hot water boiler system.  Basically, how the system works is that the water fills up a tank and the tank gets heated.  The pressure of the water flowing through the system moves that hot water around and heats the flat.  The excess water from this system then either goes out as steam or is dripped out an overflow pipe into my front garden and/or back into the water tank itself.  In summary, when there’s no water pressure, the boiler won’t kick on – so not only is there no hot water, there is no heat.  (Luckily, I do have a gas fireplace to heat my front room – it doesn’t heat much much beyond that, but it does heat the front room.)  So, the result is that it’s not only turning off my water – when the water is turned off – it’s turning off my heat too. AARG!!

Now, logically, (returning to the water rant)  if you know anything about turning off the water to a district, there may not be water going to my tap, but there is still water left sitting in the wall, in the mains, and so on.   And because it’s no longer moving – even a little bit – the water left behind expands and cracks the pipes… right? Right.  The result, is that when the water comes back on or when the weather warms up – those pipes begin to leak (thus using more water).  Then the second storm hit – dropping between 8 and 10 inches of snow on Dublin -with yet several days of hard freeze.  And what happened?  These bright councils – they kept turning off the water to different areas, extending the “off” times from 6pm – 10 am every other night, and then again from 6pm – 12 noon.

Well, what’s the result?  The weather is went above freezing for 3-4 days – and … Water chaos has commenced.  There were broken water mains everywhere, the water is leaking out of homes and businesses, water mains and etc – and the water reserves are staying at critical.  They originally said oh – we’ll have everyone back on normal water starting on New Year’s Day.  Then, they said by the 5th of January.  Well, now they’re saying another 2 weeks (after having endured this for a month).

Thing is that the people here don’t seem very outraged or annoyed by it.  They’re filling up buckets, pots and pans, bath tubs, and water bottles each night before the water’s cut off.  And when it comes back on?!? What do you think that they’re doing with that water?  Um.. They’re opening the bath tub to drain the water (So they can bathe later), they’re dumping out the buckets into the toilet, and effectively – using more water than what they might have….  And don’t see the fundamental problem about it being wasted.

This weekend, Dublin is preparing to have water restrictions – still – and guess what?  We’re about to have another multi-day cold snap. Somehow, the logic of the councils turning off the water on the coldest days of the year (as they originally did) defied them – and at this rate, there’s no end coming soon for the water restrictions.

Oh – and if you think that I’m ranting just to rant, let me put in here, that in Germany, Russia, Utah, and Georgia – we had water restrictions in the SUMMER – but never in the winter, so if these other places can figure out that things FREEZE when it’s cold…  I would expect that people here could too.  (Note that  in Germany, the trains break in the winter.. trains … water.. trains.. water.  Umm – I can admit I was annoyed by the trains, but the water thing… you don’t need trains to live – you do need water… )

Oh well.

What do I know – the Pub is warm (from the masses of bodies packed in there), there’s plenty of Guinness to drink, plenty Guinness stew to eat, and “football” on the tele.  Maybe I should just go to the Pub, and deal with it like the Irish do.  Sláinte!