In Russian, snow is never just “snow.” There are names for every kind: porosha for fresh powder, pukhlyak for the light fluffy stuff, nast for the hard crust on top, and of course sugrob for a proper snowdrift.

Arctic peoples also have an impressive range of terms for snow, since their languages grew around daily life in cold climates. Sámi speakers in northern Scandinavia, for example, use well over a hundred words to describe different forms of snow and ice.

English is far simpler in that area. Most people make do with just “snow,” “slush” and “hail.” Yet English does have a unique snowfall expression: British Rail’s famous “wrong type of snow.”

The story goes back to 1991, when an uncommonly heavy snowfall swept across the United Kingdom. It buried track switches, clogged air intakes on electric trains and even jammed sliding doors. Because many British lines rely on a third rail for power, rather than overhead wires, the soft powder caused constant short circuits. Trains were delayed for hours, and it took nearly a week for the network to recover.

British Rail took to BBC Radio 4 to explain the chaos. According to a company spokesperson, the whole system had been undone by a rare snow that was inconveniently fluffy. The presenter, James Naughtie, immediately replied with dry British humour: “Oh, I see, it was the wrong kind of snow.” The spokesperson tried to steer things back, insisting it really was different and unusual, but the damage was done. The phrase was already racing through headlines and turning into a favorite national joke.

More than thirty years later, “the wrong type of snow” is still part of British culture. It is now used to describe any pointless or desperate excuses.

P.S. The NPS crews who built the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) at -50°C would have a good laugh at that.

🌨💂‍♂️🌫

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Biofuels are increasingly being adopted as an alternative to fossil fuels. While many biofuels rely on crops grown specifically for energy production, this approach demands large amounts of land. A more sustainable solution is to turn agricultural and livestock waste into energy.

In Australia, the world’s leading producer of macadamia nuts, a power plant in the town of Gympie uses discarded nut shells as fuel. These shells burn in much the same way as coal. About 1,680 kilograms of shells are needed to produce 1.5 megawatts of power. Over the course of a year, the plant generates roughly 9.5 gigawatt-hours of electricity, supplying it to around 1,200 homes.

In the United Kingdom, thousands of tonnes of coffee waste are produced every week. A biofuel facility in Alconbury collects used coffee grounds, dries them, and extracts oil. The remaining material is compressed into fuel pellets for heating, while the extracted oil is blended with diesel and used to power London’s buses.

In Spain, waste from olive oil production such as pits and pulp is converted into energy. Anaerobic bacteria break down these by-products, producing biogas that is ultimately used to generate heat and electricity.

Similarly, a dairy farm in Kalesija, Bosnia and Herzegovina, produces electricity using biogas generated from decomposing cow manure and silage.

In Russia, by-products from the timber industry are widely used to produce fuel pellets. In Khabarovsk Krai, for instance, a wood-processing plant operates a boiler system that burns production waste to generate both electricity and steam.

P.S. This text was also powered by coffee.

♻️ 🐄⛽️

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Building a snowman may seem like nothing out of the ordinary, but the familiar figure actually has a remarkable history. At the end of the 15th century, the great Michelangelo Buonarroti is said to have sculpted one, making him the first known creator of a snowman. Sadly, his work did not survive.

Snow sculptures, however, had appeared in Europe long before Michelangelo’s time. According to legend, they were first made by Saint Francis of Assisi, who believed that snow was a gift from the angels and that snow figures could protect people from evil spirits.

The snowman took on its familiar modern form in the 19th century, when people began shaping it from three stacked snowballs. Around then, it lost its mystical role as a guardian and became a joyful winter character. A worldwide symbol of winter, celebration, and fun!

P.S. Alas, when creating such art, it won't be the paint turning your fingers blue.

🏛⛄️🥕

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Winter holidays are the most anticipated time of the year. Some people pack their bags and head out for a trip. Others stay home and enjoy quiet days with family or long evenings with friends.

And there is almost no one who does not, at least once, end up in front of a screen with a warm cup of tea or hot chocolate, watching a good movie.

Especially if the story takes you on a journey, filled with winter magic, snowy roads, and sparkling lights.

Movie night recommendations:

🎄 The Polar Express (2004)
🎄Home Alone (1990)
🎄 The Irony of Fate (1976)
🎄 Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures (1965)
🎄 The Holiday (2006)
🎄 Elf (2003)
🎄 Ivan Vasilyevich Changes His Profession (1973)
🎄 A Christmas Carol (2009)
🎄 Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
🎄 Office Romance (1977)

Enjoy the magic on screen and off. Happy holidays and warm evenings ahead!

P.S. Since choosing a movie may take longer than watching it.

🍿🎅🏻🍫

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The last work week of the year is almost over, and New Year excitement is already in the air. Gifts and festivities are beginning to take over our thoughts.

Before we officially switch into holiday mode, here’s a fun challenge. Look closely and try to spot 5 differences. Can you find them all?

Good luck and happy almost New Year.

P.S. Zooming in counts as cheating.

🕵🏻‍♂️✨🦌

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The New Year is almost here!

Somewhere in the Far East, Father Frost has already begun his journey across the country, traveling from Chukotka toward Kaliningrad.

And along that same route, we build: railways across vast distances, bridges over rivers, ports, and power stations. By shortening distances, we bring people closer, so you can spend this holiday with those who mean the most.

Wishing you happiness, good fortune, and the fulfilment of all your plans.

Happy New Year!

P.S. We thank you for being a part of our journey this year.

💫 🎅🏻🎉

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Christmas lights are a must-have for the holiday season. They glow on trees, rooftops, windows, instantly setting that magical winter mood.

But have you ever wondered how many strings of lights a single power plant could power?

Let’s take the Svobodny Thermal Power Plant as an example. It was designed and built from the ground up by TEK Mosenergo, a GC NPS subsidiary.

The plant’s current capacity is 160 megawatts, or 160,000,000 watts of electricity. With that amount of power, you could turn on 53 million strands of Christmas lights, each about 5 meters long and using 3 watts.
If you untangled stretched those lights out end to end, you would get a glowing ribbon almost 266,666 meters long. That is enough to wrap around the Earth more than six times!

And that is not the limit. There are plans to expand the Svobodny TPP with a new 450 megawatt unit. That means even more energy and a whole lot more light.

P.S. Watts and winter go hand in hand.

🌟🪢🔌

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Load oranges by the barrel.
Load tangerines by the train.

Every year, people in Russia enjoy about 800,000 tons of tangerines. That is a serious amount of citrus. If you poured them loose into standard freight cars, they would stretch out as a train more than 260 kilometers long. A line of fruit almost too long to imagine.

Most of these sunny fruits arrive from Turkey, Morocco, Abkhazia and South Africa. Their bright color and fresh scent have made them a New Year staple.

P.S. Somewhere out there is an engineer calculating exactly how many peels that would be.

🍊🪄📦

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