Tell the average English speaker that you have spent the afternoon doing "snow work" and they will have very little idea what you are talking about. In Finland, however, "lumityö" (literally translated as snow work) is a part of everyday winter life. In simple terms, it means shifting snow from one place to another with what looks like a massive spade. This is so that you are not completely snowed into your house and you are also able to sensibly move your car when you need to.
Quite simply, if you are not prepared to do it on a regular basis, there will come a time when there is so much show that you can no longer access your own front door. In Somero it has snowed around 20cm over the last couple of days so today there was no escaping it.
I have to admit that in the past I have neglected my share of snow work to the point that I could no londer move the car either forwards or backwards. Believe me, this was a bad move! This year though , we have decided to treat lumityö as a new form of exercise, and the whole family joins in. There is a silver lining to every cloud!
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