Melty slush, mush, and other things that herald Spring

It has been getting warmer in Sapporo.  There are now long stretches of sidewalk that are free of snow.  The snow that remains is not the pretty snow that we once knew.  It is the melty, grimy, slushy snow that makes me wonder if Sapporo has a soot problem.  Even the snow far from the roads has a coating of grit.  All of this causes the snow to melt faster forming large icy puddles.  I went for a walk yesterday to see how the melting has gone and took these photos.

This spot reminded me of Shel Silverstein.  This is where the sidewalk ends.  It ends in a pile of dirty snow protected by the shadow of a wall.

The arterial streets have all formed these ice barriers at the side of their snowbanks.  They are formed as the melting snow is thrown up by passing vehicles.  It lands on the snowbank and cools down forming an icy slope covered in grit.  The photo below gives you a better idea of what it looks like.

I found this leaky pipe under the elevated train tracks.  It has been leaking for a while and formed an icy layer that was melting with the warm water from the afternoon.  I really like the photo below of the same ice.  I held the camera up at arms length and pointed it down at the ice.  It is very abstract.

I took the last photo through the fence at the JRA track at sunset.  Normally it is almost impossible to see through this fence, but with the low angle of the light you can see the other side.

That's all for now,

-Kyle (and Bre)