Salt and Ice and Everything Nice

For a country that has an overall population of 5 million people, you would think taking the public transport in Oslo in the morning would be a pleasant affair.
But whether it's Bangalore (population 10M), London (population 9.5M) or Oslo (1.5 M), during the office rush hour, you are guaranteed to stand-in as acting 'Cheese Slice' in an unsavoury sandwich. Or worse because you're really short (yes, I am short) are forcibly tented under a massive arm; some days you're wishing you had that blocked nose.

Yesterday, I was stuck standing near the drivers seat and honest soul that I am, was trying to activate my travel card at the nearest card reader. I was in a half ballet pose, balancing on one leg (which is never a good idea in a moving bus) and since I am short, have short and pudgy arms, still could not reach 'swipe point'. A kind lady then swiped my card for me, only then to be pointed to an easier accessible swipe point right next to the driver by another fellow traveller, who seemed to have enjoyed my little pseudo-ballet number and waited to tell me after I had a near muscle cramp from all that stretching.

Public transport in Norway is actually very good, though the locals still complain. But coming from a place where handkerchiefs were considered a fair way to reserve seating on the bus, not to mention the condition of the buses themselves, one journey could send your back into spasm, public transport here is well maintained, clean and comfortable (if you have managed to secure a seat).

It's been snowing quite a lot these past two days, but the roads, at least the expressway my bus takes, seem clear of all snow at all times. Now call me uninformed, or naive or just highly optimistic of modern technology, but I thought (actually was quite sure) that the roads were made of some stuff or there was something in them that was melting all the snow. Yes, the question around what would happen in the summer then, did cross my mind. But these days you get underwear which will keep you warm when it's cold and the same damn thing will keep you dry and slightly cool when temperatures rise. If you can put this sort of technology into underwear how difficult is it to apply to roads.

So I asked my Norwegian colleague (not about underwear), how is it that the roads are free of snow when it has snowed like bloody 'The Day After Tomorrow'. He said that they salt the roads. Huh, so much for advanced technology. Salt and snow ploughers, I gathered.

On my bus ride home yesterday I sat in the first seat, this basically is 'bus' shotgun, you're kinda next to the driver but a few inches behind him. It's kind of like being in a simulator, where you can feel the speed and watch the track in the front of you, only here it is real.
Just before my ride home I happened to read a news article of a huge truck in an accident because of Black Ice. When I lived in my utopic world of self-snow-melting-roads I was confident that however fast my bus went on these roads I was not going to die. Also, I have immense faith, almost to the degree of blindness, in drivers who are by profession, drivers. A cab ride in India can give you the same thrill as the 'Banshee'. But because he is a driver by profession I travel undeterred. However, when with hubby who is a careful and skilled driver, I am pushing imaginary brakes and shouting out one word cautions, often expletives. I never said I was a pleasant passenger.

Now with my new found knowledge of salt, snow ploughers and accidents because of ice, I was watching out for black ice on the road (which is stupid, because you never really see black ice), cussing the driver (in my head) for driving so fast and was desperately trying to remember the hail mary. I usually read on my commute, but yesterday I had put down my Mindy Kaling (she's quite unputdownable by the way) and concentrated on the road, just to scare my already wildly beating heart more.

I am usually not paranoid, actually I am quite rational and sometimes do the putting of two and two together, as they say. Oslo saw two major public transport accidents last autumn. If you can screw up and get into a head on collision in totally dry conditions, how hard was it to do the same on ice. Ice which was now possible because it was a manual process of salting and ploughing, dependent on a guy who could miss a spot, a spot that could spin your car around in a very 'The fast and the furious' style.

Today I stood in the rear of the bus and had my nose in my book, ignored the two thuds of something hitting the bus from below. If I died today I would have at least died laughing. (Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? - Mindy Kaling)