Jyväskylä: A grey, snowy day

Where have all the colours gone? There seems to be only white and different shades of grey left in the scenery that greets me this morning. The wet snowflakes attack everything that moves or doesn't move.

At the end of Kortesuonkatu street there are the sad remains of Jyvälä, or Nisula estate that housed for example a kindergarten and offered adult education - before someone set it on fire in November 2011. Bit by bit the last remaining part of the building is being torn down.

Next to the Nisula estate, in the yard of the neighbouring apartment building, a felled tree is neatly stacked and waiting for its destiny as firewood.

More snow keeps falling down from the sky. My footprints leave a wet mark on the pavement of Syrjälänkatu street. A car passes me by and slush flies into the air, but luckily it doesn't land on me.

Early in the evening I walk past the Seminaarinmäki campus and slow down in front of Villa Rana building. Quite a few trees have been felled next to its white fence. There are not too many trees left but the remaining ones are protected by red ribbons that say SÄÄSTETÄÄN (to be saved). This adds colour to the day...

Following the Villa Rana fence towards the Jyväskylä University Library, I notice on it a white frame that seems to be missing something. What has disappeared from there or what is still to come there?

The hedge next to Ylä-Ruth, or unofficially Sivukirjasto bar (Branch Library, a nickname it got from being the building next to the University Library), is leafless but not lifeless. The hedge is crying off the melting snow and gaining strength to grow its first green leaves for the spring.

Kuuntele (Listen). Of course I could close my eyes and just listen to the snow melting, water dripping, the sound of gravel beneath my feet. I take a peek at Galleria Patina from behind the window;  Pipa Rauhamäki 's artwork is on display at the exhibition Huhtikuun tytöt (April Girls). A grieving torso of an angel stands on a wooden pedestal that says Kun ikävöin sinua (When I miss you). It makes me think what I'm missing right now: colours. Welcome back, Spring!