Another cold day, but at least it is sunny and there is no wind so I was able to go to the store and walk just a little bit. The stairwell is getting too boring for me and, while it is good for the heart, it makes my muscles ache. We are able to buy some rather decent Russian sparkling wine at our local grocery store, and now that it is the holiday season they even have some Brut, as opposed to the really sweet stuff. I don’t like drinking sparkling wine out of a big wine glass so when I saw that they were having a sale on six Champagne Flutes from the Czech Republic, I had to check them out. The glasses themselves are really lovely and quite delicate, which might explain why the first five boxes I opened all had at least one broken glass. (Yes, I’ve lived here long enough to know that I have to check out everything just to make sure it is what it is supposed to be.) I finally found one box that had six perfect glasses and brought that up to the cashier along with my bread and a few Christmas decorations for the house.
This cashier is one of the snarly one’s who actually asked to see my carry bag, the very same SDSU bag that I have used in that store since August. I don’t know if this is now standard policy to avoid shoplifting, but I was a bit miffed. She rang up all the items and then opened the box with the glasses. She had to check (Brava) to make sure they were all there and all in one piece. As she tried to replace the last glass with her fat fingers, she hit the edge of one of the other glasses and chipped it. I was disheartened since that meant I would have to go back and look for six more, but she seemed to have no intention of admitting that she made a mistake and placed the glass in the box and rang it up. I was flabbergasted and tried to mime that we needed to replace that glass. Fortunately a supervisor had been observing this entire transaction, as they do all transactions, and she stepped in and said something quite harsh to the cashier, removed the chipped glass, called over a stock boy and gave him a quick set of instructions and then asked me to pay the bill and come with her. I did what she asked since she made the matrons of TSA look like pole dancers, and followed her to the entrance of the store. In a matter of seconds the stock boy returned with a new glass, she placed it in the box and gave me a big smile and thank you. Perhaps I’m known as a daily shopper, perhaps they just watch their cashiers like a hawk, whatever it is, and it made me very happy.
Speaking of happy, old Volodya (nickname for Vladimir) Putin is hopping mad at all the Batman/Robin jokes, not to mention the fact that everyone is claiming that Russia and Belarus are being run by the Russian Mafia. I’m told that he really got going on the Larry King Show, letting the world know of his displeasure with the West. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11893886
I’ve mentioned before that there is a great deal of graft and corruption associated with almost everything in Russia. It is one of the reasons that big international companies come and then leave rather quickly since they don’t want to see all of their profits go to paying off officials. There is a good article that really delves into the state of Russia today.
Last night I decided that we had had enough turkey, pasta, stuffing, potatoes and other wonderful, but less than healthy food, so I made a Scandinavian Dinner. I cut a lovely chunk of smoked salmon into thin slices and decorated the plate with lemon. We also had some hard cooked eggs, herring, sour cream, a homemade mustard sauce, some flat bread, fresh dark break and butter, broccoli blinis and lots of frozen vodka and aquavit. We sang drinking songs, shared a beer and had a grand old time and it was just the two of us.
The Ministry of Moscow Central Heating has had its hands full these past several days. Working round the clock to make sure that hot water flows to all the building in town. While walking up the stairs today I was able to get this shot of two of the heating facilities billowing steam into the cold crisp air.
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| Central Heating Working Overtime |
Language lessons tonight so I’m trying to learn as much as I can between now and six! Happy Hanukkah, Cindy and Wm
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