Snowplough

[umit]

The pavement in front of the building that I work is under our liability, so we have it cleaned from snow at all times to make sure people would use it safely. But, yesterday the snowploughs arrived for the first time (since it began snowing this year!!!) and pushed all the snow and ice from street on to the pavement, more than one meter tall!!! Even if I warned the snowplough driver on the spot, he refused to remove that mass. Then I called the office responsible for these matters and an unfriendly female voice told me "Everybody wants the snow is pushed to his neighbor's pavement!" @#$$%%^^!!! I don't want the snow is pushed to my neighbor's wall, but want the snow, which was pushed from street and which is not my liability, is removed from my pavement.

Is it only me and my neighbors on the street who suffers this snowplough service, or is it the common practice in Finland????

[richard berman]

Don't know how long you have lived in Finland, but this year the snow has not been removed from most places , why?? it costs money to take it away , and now in these times our tax money does not reach that far. They will learn in the end, when the floods start to happen as it gets warmer. Looking outside my front door I can see I have to climb over a metre of snow, so No its not just you.

[Upphew]

Is it only me and my neighbors on the street who suffers this snowplough service, or is it the common practice in Finland????

Business as usual. No need to wonder why I prefer flat over house in the town... although they tell me that pushing snow is good exercise

[Mölkky-Fan]

If you ask them nicely I am sure that they will scrape the ice off your car as well. Actually we say thanks and wave to our snow clearer's and they seem to try and do a nice job next to our house. But remember that they have a job to do, and quickly, to clear as many roads and pavements as possible... and a priority list in which order they do it.

But this is a problem for us as well and we have to then clear the snow to our drive and garage entrance, but you just have to live with it I am afraid. I also caught our neighbours pushing their snow in a pile in front of our post box, so we could not get to it. I did not say anything as they looked very sheepish, and they did not do it again.

[Pursuivant]

but want the snow, which was pushed from street and which is not my liability, is removed from my pavement.

Thank you for calling, we'll be back in 4 months to review your situation. You can leave a message after the beep.

[umit]

If you ask them nicely I am sure that they will scrape the ice off your car as well.

Well, we must have been quite rude to them, so they did this to us!!!

[Pursuivant]

OK, now I understand you better...

[raamv]

someone at work de-motivated to snow plough..and then you showed up asking questions...
Possibly p*ssed em off.

[Upphew]

Yup, seems that you got all your snow at same time, instead of 30cm at time. I remember when it was my task to clean driveway after the school and tiekarhu had scraped the road and pushed all the snow and ice to the driveway. Granted it was only a few meters to clean, but it was big icy chunks and I was skinny teenager weighing 50kg or something. At least it seems that you have room in the front yard to put all that snow. When I was even smaller, our front yard was quite small and that meant quite long way to move snow near the end of the winter, or big mountain in the front yard (which I always burrowed into..).

So bitch and moan now, but keep the pictures safe so you can couple of decades later tell someone that the mountain of snow is nothing new...

[umit]

someone at work de-motivated to snow plough..and then you showed up asking questions...
Possibly p*ssed em off.

Well, no... Older staff told me that this happens every year. The practice was like the snowplough pushes the snow onto the pavement, our guy pushes it back to street. This time I told him not to touch it. A lot of people are already complaining to us and asking when we will clear the pavement. I tell them as soon as the municipality removes their snow or we have to wait mother nature do the job for us...

Edit: I'll keep the photos safe not to look at them couple of decades later, but in case someone tries to sue me for not fulfilling my liabilities

[umit]

I sent an email to "Rakennusviraston Asiakaspalvelu" attached with the photos from the scene... And the reply is as follows:

"I am sorry, but also individual properties are charged with the winter maintenance of pavements in front of the properties. In addition, the properties must remove snow banks accumulating on the pavements or next to it and ensure that the gutter next to the pavement is clear of snow and ice.

The Public Works Department takes care of the winter maintenance of carriageways, market squares and pedestrian and cycling paths.

Best Regards,"

We have a saying... (I will try my best to make a sound translation) Ask a work from the lazy, he will give advice how to do it easier by yourself.

It seems everybody has to wait for mother nature

[Upphew]

http://yle.fi/alueet/hame/2010/02/lumet ... 10492.html

[Bavarian]

In English, with photos

And I love how the little photo-ad for Ilta-Sanomat at the bottom of HS's Finnish pages has the screaming headline, LISÄÄ LUNTA!

[Pursuivant]

Darn... first they didn't plough our small road so I couldn't get out, then the plough came and theres a similar huge pile blocking the driveway. Good excuse to work from home.

[AldenG]

On Sunday the Helsinki Rescue Department issued a communique, saying that all citizens, janitors, and real estate managers should see to it that snow is cleared from pavements, in order that rescue vehicles have free acces to patients and sites of accidents.

Right. They need to get out there with hair dryers and butane torches and melt all that snow. Or at least carry it up into the attic. Because it can't stay where it is and it can't go back out into the streets.

We all know that citizens, janitors, and real estate managers are far better equipped for carrying the snow out onto the ice, the way the city of Helsinki used to do, than the city itself. So start loading up all those pickup trucks, SUVs, and the kids' beach buckets, and haul that snow. Maybe a few hundred thousand people need to be enlisted into a hand-to-hand bucket brigade to transport the snow, the way they used to do with water to put out fires.