Last week, you might have heard what sounded like a train going through residential and central parts of Cluj at night. If you looked out of the window on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday night, you might have seen a snow plow clearning the roads.
Now, most of us have to walk on the sidewalk sometime. The majority of residents of Cluj are housed in appartments, and these appartment blocks tend to lack parking spaces. Even if you are lucky enough to get an assigned parking space, it is likely outside, away from the front doors.
Perhaps you have been busy shoveling snow in front of your own residence, or maybe even all the way from your parked car to your residence (which for many people can be over 100 meters, but anyway). Then you need to get to your work place.
Maybe you work at the mall or a large supermarket, and have indoor parking. Then, you are lucky. Most workplaces, however, do not have dedicated parking spaces.
Maybe you do all your shopping at the mall. With the January sales, it might be possible for some people. It is still expensive compared to other places. We saw market trader braving the freezing cold, and customers buying fruit, vegetables and bread in sub zero temperatures. That said, most customers would have to walk through frozen ice to get there, risking a fall perhaps.
However, all residents are lucky enough to have a system that still priority. This means foods and other necessities can get to the store, market traders, malls, or delivery. It appears difficult for delivery, and we have seen fewer delivery bikes on the road the past few weeks. One bike skid at a crossroads and avoided colliding with footwalkers, but from the number of falls we have seen we assume that some accidents have resulted from the ice. However, drivers do appear to be acting more carefully, and we have not witnessed any major accidents this winter.
We are lucky that the logistics of needed supplies are still entering Cluj with encomberment. That said, in many parking areas there is still a large amount of snow and ice, and one may slip when leaving one’s car.