Icicles

[magid]

The church by my T stop has a row of icicles all along the edge of the roof, and I realized that I don't see icicles nearly as much as I used to. My dad always saw them as a loss of heat, therefore a defeat, so perhaps buildings are better designed, or more insulated. I understood why dad didn't like having icicles, but it was fun to break them off, the work involved in breaking a large one, the satisfaction of breaking it, the sound as it landed, either shattering on the ground or thumping into snow. It was extremely satisfying, in the same way that breaking the edge of an ice overhang at the side of the road was (I don't see those at all; I wonder if they're partly a function of roads without sidewalks, or the freeze cycle up in the hills, or something), especially thick ones. Come to think of it, winter was the season for permissable destruction, breaking icicles, stomping ice shelves, breaking through the ice on puddles.

So much to write. Too little time. Must find better balance.

Comments

[bitty.livejournal.com]

Must find better balance.

They make special shoes for that, you know.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Better is not necessarily new ;-).

[bitty.livejournal.com]

new isn't necessarily better :)

[magid.livejournal.com]

Hee.

Except in produce, of course.

[treacle-well.livejournal.com]

ice overhang at the side of the road

Interesting. I grew up in an area with no sidewalks (but not in the hills) and I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.

[magid.livejournal.com]

Picture a heap of snow along the side of the road, which becomes compressed into thick ice. Somehow, where I was growing up, part of the bottom of the ice would melt away first, leaving a sort of shelf of ice. Sometimes it was thick, sometimes thin, but I don't remember seeing any around here, which is why I thought about sidewalks, but perhaps it has to do with temperature cycles or something else.

[ruthling.livejournal.com]

Downtown is rife with sheets of fallen and soon-to-be-falling ice, which makes navagation even more interesting. Icycles are a good way to check how your house's insulation and gutters are doing!

[danger-chick.livejournal.com]

Hmmm...the view out my window at work includes a couple of icycles....

[magid.livejournal.com]

I was surprised to see icicles lining part of an MIT hallway (er, on the outside); I assumed (for no particular reason) that MIT would have all sorts of energy-efficient and/or well-insulated spaces.

Luckily haven't run into any sheets of falling ice, either.