Lithuania goes tropical
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Come to Lithuania if you doubt climate change. When I went there for winter vacations, I was greeted with a very polite "Ladies and gentlemen, the plane is landing above Vilnius. The temperature in Vilnius is -22 degrees Celsius. Have a nice stay..." In spring I heard of horrible floods, although not so destructive as in Poland or Hungary.
Right before I came here in summer, my friends were complaining about unprecedented mosquito attack and more annoying then ever pollen in Vilnius. Eventually, summer came with rains, thunderstorms and barely survivable heat above 30 degrees, which is very unusual. How do people cope with it?
In fact, there is not much to do. Due to the famous austerity measures, the municipality is still saving on fountains, and those which operate are not much of use either, as some people like to pollute them with detergents. What remains?
So this was tropical heat. What about the tropical rains? They are not refreshing at all, since they do not make the atmosphere less stifling. They only block traffic, failing to stream into the sewage system fast enough. What happens, you can see in that was sent to Delfi by a reader. The sign invites all drivers to respect each other.Running away from the city. The lanes of the roads Vilnius-anywhere are full. Those who are lucky to have vacations rush to the seaside. People use the chance to discover new lakes in order to have a little more privacy. Trying to stay indoors during the day and hitting the city centre in the evening. In its question of the day, Delfi, the most popular news portal even asked whether Lithuania should introduce siesta. New outdoor cafes, such as the one right next to St.Catherine's church, must be harvesting really juicy profits. The number of people sitting outside late in the evening sometimes makes me feel like in Tel Aviv. Changing consumption patterns. Businesses reacted to the heatwave immediately. Coffee Inn introduced new [expensive, but so damn yummy] ice coffees (who in this world has the energy to engage in a mental activity which tells you that caffeine actually makes you dehidrate) and a restaurant-bar next to my office invites passers-by to get refreshed with a cold beer and cold snacks. The famous pink Lithuanian cold borshch is ubiquitous. Sadly enough, the heat even catalyses Lithuanians' preference for shopping malls to shopping streets, since in the former they get aircon.