Grandfather Frost is not frozen up!

Anatoliy GURIN, Dmitriy KORCHAK, “Sovetskaya Byelorussia” (The Soviet Byelorussia) Newspaper, No 245

A heavy show-fall "de-energized" Belovezhskaya Pushcha last weekend but a residence of a winter magician was full of light all the time.

A Grandfather Frost
Extreme conditions in open air, which are very preferable by many tourists, were created last weekend in Belovezhskaya Pushcha. Precipitation on Saturday was equal to the norm for one and a half decade. The snow cover became eleven centimeters deep over some hours. Branches of century age pine trees hardly kept snow caps, while electric line wires have been torn like a thread. The light went out from a hotel and motel houses scattered in the Pushcha's area. The situation concerning switching-off the electricity only activated foreign tourists to take a great interest in Pushcha. The only estate of Belarusian Grandfather Frost was brightly illuminated by over thousand bulbs because the residence of the New Year's wizard is connected to another electric line which escaped destruction.

When the visitors of Belovezhskaya Pushcha finally reached their apartments in the late evening, after driving back in a sledge from the Grandfather Frost's residence and crossing true snow-drifts, no less romantic conditions were ready for them — the evening by candlelight.

An estate of Belarusian Grandfather Frost
"Every cloud has a silver lining! The situation when electricity was switched off just raised attraction for foreign tourists in Pushcha", deputy director of the National Park "Belovezhskaya Pushcha" Nina Bogush considered. "All hotel rooms are already sold to spend a New Year's and Christmas night. However the Grandfather Frost will accept all wishing by day. A record amount of visitors is expected. Electricians promised that the estate will be under illumination in any case. As for "heavenly office", the only God is aware of it. We still have a true paradise here!"

Meanwhile not only Belovezhskaya Pushcha ignited candles the last weekend — 293 built-up areas of 8 of 16 districts of the Brest region were without light. This caused impossibility to milk cows at 73 farms. Fortunately, air temperature did not decrease two degrees below zero and de-energized boiler-houses got no suffer. Early yesterday 10 built-up areas needed to restore electricity equipment.

By the way

There was about 50 percents of monthly snow rate in the Grodno and Brest regions in the term of twenty-four hours on Saturday. The weather brought a peace of unpleasant surprise for power engineering specialists some days before their professional anniversary. 156 built-up areas in the Grodno region were electricity turned-off, because of snow-fall. Wires did not sustain to meet … the winter. Fortunately, according to information from the Ministry of Emergency, all objects of social importance had optimal work schedule. Consequences of accidents were liquidated by Monday.

"A powerful cyclone, which then quickly moved to the north of the European part of Russia and made open access of cold air from Scandinavia, caused heavy snow-falls", head of the Department of Meteorological Forecasts of the National Hydro-Meteorological Center Valentina Skrebets told. "The real winter will come this week. Air temperature will decrease 6 - 11 degrees below zero in the night and 3 – 9 degrees below zero in the afternoon. Some snow is sometimes expected. Winds will change the direction from the west in days off while frost will weaken a bit".

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Opinion of a visitor of the website "Soviet Byelorussia":

Nickname: the Belarusian (2005-12-20 17:36:26)
The hotel No 3 was not ready to face this kind of weather at all. Imagine the evening and night spent without electricity, water, sewer system, heating and other boons of civilization. Even candles were absent. Are there really not stipulated independent sources of energy in institutions of such the type? If the temperature will be 2 degrees below zero, this will provoke catastrophe for pipes. The attitude of service staff to lodgers is in the "Soviet" style, no any complicity. The trip cost was not cheap, but it should like to forget it as a terrible dream.

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