Having taken a stroll through Camp King Oberursel just the other day, I rediscovered snow related fun projects I had not seen for many years.

Nice and healthy looking

Germany's new housing projects

A bulimic snowman

Have a seat!

On a different note:

As the snow is coming down and twirling in all directions at 1:00 p.m. local time, traffic has almost come to a complete halt in our residential area of Oberursel in the Hochtaunuskreis.

This morning though, we had to go into town and observed local shop owners clearing their front area in the pedestrian zone. I could overhear dissatisfied remarks about why the city of Oberursel could not get one of their plowing trucks to move the knee-deep snow in some parts. One disgruntled owner said …how will they manage the Hessentag 2011 (the oldest and biggest state festival in Germany) if they can’t even manage normal business…

A city worker, one of the guys in the orange work suits, related to somebody how he had been offered a bag of Streusalz (gritting salt) for € 200. I believe in regular times a bag would cost about € 20. But right now, with many communities having run out of it, the real effect of supply and demand kicks in. Black market prices for gritting salt – unusual times call for unusual needs.