Winter gravel time, part 2

So how well does the gravel work? This week has been a good test because we have had very cold temperatures, more snow dusting, and then warm temperatures. In the meanwhile, countless people have used the graveled walkways, compacting the snow into gravel-speckled ice.

The results have been promising for anyone who likes to ice skate or slide. And who enjoys a certain risk.

My new Finnish vocabulary term is liukas (slippery).

And now I can practice saying "Tämä on liukasta!" (This is slippery!). Or even better: "Se oli liukasta" (That was slippery!), to be used after I slip, as a warning to others...or maybe as a Finnish conversation starter -- that I could participate in only if my witnesses were three years old or younger. I would need, of course, to wait until the giggles died down in order to make myself understood.

What is the solution to a slippery path? Why, more gravel, of course!

I have not yet seen gravel being officially distributed, however, and wonder how it must be done. By official workers who come by in trucks, at night? But I have encountered at least one distribution tub for my apartment. Maybe normal citizens are encouraged to participate.

I have to admit that the walk I took today was very treacherous. A lot of baby steps, hesitations, and gentle foot placements. I have not yet seen anyone else slip, however, besides my poor wife, who ended up on the ground, thankfully unhurt, just after I said "let's go this way, it seems less slippery...." And many people are pushing strollers, riding bikes, and jogging as if to defy the conditions.

As I walk the slippery slopes of Helsinki, I cannot help but imagine the windfall for personal injury lawyers if this were the US. Is that not a concern here? Another matter to explore.