OUR Konstantinos Anastasiadis Born in Kifisiotis, he is 26 years old and works as an agronomist in one of the many nurseries in the municipality. His decision to pursue this profession was driven by his love of flowers and greenery, which can be found in abundance in his area. However, his love is not limited to flowers, but extends to the very area where he lives.

For this reason, he was a civil protection volunteer for the municipality for three years. Together with a group of about 10 people, they help when something potentially dangerous or bad happens in their area, be it fires, floods or snow. So even now, when Barbara appeared in bad weather, she could not be absent.

“We started with the snowplow putting salt on it last night at 9 p.m. At 23:00, there was already a very thin layer of snow on the roads,” Konstantinos “K” describes and continues: “In the following hours, the work of the brigade was more of a patrol character, but also of opening trees, the danger of falling or branches that could cause problems. Kifisia is very beautiful at night, covered in snow when everyone is sleeping.“.

However, the young Kifisiotis notes that both snowplows and salt were available from noon yesterday, adding that the municipality’s good and timely cooperation with the Attica region also played an important role.

“The kindergarten prepares ready-made meals”

Immobile, as he describes himself, the volunteer describes how things began to get “tough,” he says, around 04:30 am, when the snow intensified and “we saw that after a few minutes it started to ‘layer’ it. There were two of us on the snowplow, and three more machines were working at the same time.. Don’t forget that our municipality is very large.”

In fact, he explains that this particular job is not easy, because especially in areas such as Polithia, Ekali, Penteli, especially in the foothills, but also in Kefalari, on hills or on narrow roads surrounded by tall and numerous trees, a snowplow should be administered with caution. “In these areas, in the most difficult places, as early as 06:00, the snow depth reached 25 cm,” he describes.

He also maintains the very good cooperation that existed this time between volunteers and employees of other services of the municipality. Konstantinos cites as an example the cooks in the kindergartens who prepared meals in the morning for everyone who worked in the fields.

Comparison between “Barbara” and “Hope” is inevitable. After all, Konstantinos also helped in last year’s bad weather. “No connection,” he says decisively, and explains: “Last year there was chaos, people were trapped, they left their cars wherever they were found after long hours of suffering, the power went out. The townspeople on the streets were outraged. This year the picture was very different. The preparation helped. But the weather was bad and much milder” indicates Konstantinos, who will return to the same post today with the rest of the team from 21:00.

“Snow in our country is not an ordinary story. It’s nice to experience it up close,” he concludes.