A frequent sight in these parts at the moment is those brave souls who clamber around on rooftops brushing off the large amounts of snow and icicles. I've never seen anyone do this in Britian but here it's essential, especially when the temperatures are fluctuating around zero. Otherwise enormous great lumps of snow and ice or icicles the size of a viking sword are likely to fall on those in the street. Walking in the Old Town, with all its narrow streets is particularly hairy at this time of year.
I just wonder: what do these intrepid rooftop heroes do for the rest of the year? The season for snow clearance is a short one.
Everyone in Stockholm complains (with some justification!) about how long it takes for the streets to be cleared of snow, but compared to the UK it all seems very efficient. The moment the snow starts falling, the gritting lorries and snow ploughs are out. In Blighty, every time snow falls people look astonished, as though they'd never seen the stuff befoe and chaos ensues.
They are probably employed by the "kommun" (city council? or they have their own enterprises as building constructors or road constructors or even unemployed people or else. Not much work for them in the winter normally. Here in our area several roofs have collapsed due to the tons of snow on them, during the past weeks, and the council have to clear the roofs at the schools because of the danger of them collapsing. One riding school roof collapsed, the horses and the kids had guardian angels not get injured. One meter of snow is what we have here.
SvaraRadera