Passing By Grid Lock on a Snowy Evening

I had quite an adventure getting home from the National Aviation University this evening. This was due to a massive traffic jam that appeared to affect the entire city, from the center of the city outward for several miles, as far as the Polytechnichni Metro stop. We first became aware of problems when our bus stopped for several minutes near the large campus that gives its name to the Metro station. Finally, after several more minutes, Olga and I and a few other daring souls got off of our stranded and idling bus and walked through the snow to the wide pathways running through a stand of trees at the edge of the campus. We trotted along with a throng of other pedestrians under the snow covered trees, feeling a little like participants in Robert Frost's poem, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening," trudging through the snow "between the woods and frozen lake" while repeating over and over the lines, "and miles to go before I sleep, and miles to go before I sleep." There were also many cars who followed us up over the curb and shared the sidewalk with the pedestrians. After several hundred meters, we finally attained the Metro station, whose warm depths felt very comforting to the frustrated traveler. When I got home a few minutes later to the Lva Tolstovo Plaza, I heard a cacophony of vehicle horns out of my window, and looked out to the site pictured above. The gridlock continued for about two hours, until a solitary police officer showed up with white gloves and whistle and little by little cleared out the traffic.