I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve said the following phrases over the last few days ….
“Is it snowing yet?” “Have you looked outside?” “The roads might be bad.” “I’m cold.” “I don’t want to drive in this!” “Is it still snowing?” “Is the car stuck?” “I hate Bulgarian winter!”
That’s it. Since I saw the dreadful forecast of heavy snow and ridiculous temperatures across Bulgaria, I haven’t been able to talk about anything else!
Now, I do agree that the snow makes everything look beautiful. And I also know that the Bulgarian ski resorts need lots of snow to have a good ski season. BUT, I’m not that keen on skiing and unfortunately, I can’t sit at home and admire the pretty blanket of snow from the warmth and comfort of my bed. Nope, like many of you, I have to get up and go to work. And in this weather, that’s a real challenge!
Firstly, if you’re not lucky enough to have a garage, you have to clean your car. Oh, but before you clean it, you’ll need to find it! Good luck with that if you can’t remember exactly where you parked on the street the night before! You’ll need a long broom, unless you want to spend more than half an hour sweeping off snow with your hands and covering yourself in snow in the process. Secondly, you will then need to dig out the car. In conditions like today, I’d allow yourself at least half an hour for that unpleasant task. On the plus side, at least you can skip one gym session this week as digging is a full-on workout! Leather gloves and a warm hat are also recommended. And, make sure you’re wearing some good waterproof boots, preferably long ones. My wellies are great, but this morning the snow was up to my knees and my wellies were not. So, I got to work with lots of snow inside my wellies. Thank goodness I had thought to bring spare socks and boots with me!
Once you get the car on the road you really must drive carefully. I see far too many accidents on the roads in Sofia. Of course, it’s difficult to avoid them completely, but some people don’t seem to understand that icy roads should slow you down!
If you need to use the public transport you should allow yourself some extra time for that too. However, even on the worst snowy days, the trams in Sofia are usually still running quite frequently. Just be sure to wrap up warm though. When it’s -15 outside, a 20 minute tram ride can feel like a very long journey!
If you are lucky enough to be at home somewhere in Bulgaria and enjoying the snow today, have fun! Send us some snowman photos by email or on Facebook, it will cheer me up while I’m at work thinking about going through it all again when I leave at 5pm! ?
If you need a rental car in Bulgaria, we can recommend Top Rent A Car, check their rates here:
Leave a Reply