So, dear Steemies, this is what happens when you get up in the morning, carefully put your mascara on and then pop outside to take a selfie and Boom! Within seconds your eyelashes freeze!!!
Meet Anastasia Gruzdeva from the Russian town of Oymyakon in Siberia where today the temperature measured a mighty chilly, some might say bone cracklingly cold -67 Celsius.
The town, which boasts around only 500 inhabitants, got its name from the nomadic reindeer herders who would gather there to take advantage of the thermal hot springs - Oymyakon means "water that doesn't freeze."
Pretty much everything else in the town does though!!! The list of things that don't function in such biting temperatures includes not only your eyelashes, but all electronic devices, mobile (cell) phones won't work, pen ink freezes, as do indoor toilets and plumbing, and they only get about 3 hours of daylight in winter. All of which makes it sound like a steemian nightmare.
No chance to write posts, check on your crypto deals or even just simply read that hot trending whale post while on the loo (some do, you know!).
That said it does present other opportunities. Photographer Petr Chugunov persuaded a ballerina to brave the cold to capture this haunting shot...
Photo credits Petr Chugunov 2018
And this one of the main bridge in Oymyakon clad completely in ice.
For anyone doubting the -67C temperature here's a short (under 3mins) video clip which provides the evidence...
Of note to any vegans and vegetarians who may be thinking of visiting...because the ground is frozen solid almost permanently, crops, fruit and vegetables cannot be grown here so the diet is almost entirely meat and fish based. Mostly on the menu here is fish and reindeer meat (sorry Rudolph!) served as a local delicacy and often eaten raw.
And if that has you swooning in a dead faint...don't. Because in Oymyakon even burying the dead is potentially pretty problematic!
Oh and if you're a 'fridge manufacturer looking to expand to Russia, let's just say your marketing strategies might not be very effective here. However I do foresee a lucrative future for the anti freeze mascara market!