The first snow of winter Winter has come to Bishkek. It snowed, then the temperature dropped. I heard someone say that it went down to minus 16C. Last week’s snow is still on the ground. The temperature hovers around freezing during the day and drops below zero as soon as the sun starts to go down. The washing froze as soon as we hung it out on the line on Saturday morning. It's definitely time for thermals, gloves, boots and other winter wear. These last few days the sun has been shining – very crisp and cold – quite beautiful, but getting around is rather hazardous. The main roads did seem to have some kind of grit the day after the snow, but the pavements and side roads are still icy. Noone uses snow tyres or chains. I met a Lada coming sideways down our street and saw a Mercedes making futile attempts to turn out of a side road into the main road – it just kept sliding back.