Every road sign, yes, every road sign indeed, is frozen. Apart from the highway, only a few regional roads are drivable. Big piles of fallen trees lie beside these roads. Fences are frozen over, icicles hang from roofs, heaps of snow are as hard as rocks. And the trees … clothed in shields of ice is probably the best description. They stand like ice works of art covered in a thick layer of ice. If it would not be dreadful, it could even be wonderful. The power of Mother Nature. An ice fairytale? Not exactly. Siberia? Even less. A glance outside gives the impression that it's at least -20 degrees Celsius. However the thermometer shows only -2 degrees. In the Notranjska region time froze on Friday, when rain drops started freezing on the ground, and sleet came into being.
I still think about how only half an hour away, in any direction - towards Ljubljana or Koper, life is still normal. We're lucky to have at least the main roads in drivable condition, so people can tend to matters they've never had to do before, gather information, and get ready for the night.
After two days I now know exactly what to do – at 5 p.m it gets dark, however if you draw back the curtains you still have some light in your house till 5:30 p.m, enough to be able to walk around the house. Then the candles are lit. Have you ever experienced total darkness? Without public lighting, no vehicle headlights, no moving TV pictures, no lights in the rooms? DARKNESS.
The local businessman causes traffic problems every day. He immediately changed his line of business and now delivers power generators from Italy both day and night. He sells them from the parking place in front of the shop, because there's no electricity to open the metal gate. The locals stand in queues in front of the shop; the businessman writes down their names and takes reservations.
At the moment we have one floor heated – it's around 17 degrees on the other floor, where all seven of us sleep. The gas stove enables us to cook. We're in that part of Rakek where electricity has partially returned. Lucky us. The primary school and kindergarten will obviously remain closed until Friday, so we're all at home. SMS text messages seem to be the best way of communicating. Thank god for smart phones and 3G networks.
The petrol station in Cerknica is buzzing with people again. I guess they've also reopened the shop and health centre. However more snow and rain are forecast. If anything holds water it's the old saying that man gets used to everything. Yes, you do get used to walking almost one on top of the other, eating cautiously and the fact that your personal space has become very limited. But how does the neighbour get used to 13 degrees in the house?
And all that in a place where I've lived for 32 years already, and which I've called lucky for not experiencing any natural catastrophe. We live on a hill, so we never have floods. There's no danger of landslides, we're in a seismic safe area, and hail always causes damage elsewhere. But now I know that we're not invulnerable. One word: sleet.
