Pushchair wars

It's an insanely warm 12 degrees at the moment. We are not even the coldest place in Romania at the moment (if the TV weather is to be believed it's only 7 in Iasi and Cluj. Losers.) We grabbed our chance and went on an expedition into the town with the little one - along with every other parent in town, desperate to get some fresh air into their offspring. It's like a pushchair trade fair out there today, with baby bottlenecks at all the gaps in the snowbanks where you have to cross the road. The small wheels on ours were not quite the thing for the conditions and I found myself coveting the massive 4WD style wheels on some of the newer models, although I imagined they'd be a bastard to carry upstairs if, like us, you live in a buliding without a lift.

With the temperature so warm, the snow is melting rapidly forming impromptu lakes on all the pavements, apart from on the hills, where there are extemporaneous rivers instead. It is so warm that it is possible to make and throw a series of snowballs barehand and not end up with chilblains. Now that is warm. I didn't even have to wear a coat. I suspect we are just being warmed up (ha) for another batch of sub minus 20 temperatures and a few more metres of snow, but for the time being we can just bask on the balcony in our shorts.