Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Beating Feet with Sneakers


Happy Birthday Mom – you would have been 86 today.

I’m in Moscow, the sun is shining, the temperature is in the upper 40’s and the snow is melting faster than the wicked witch of the east.  The trip home was as easy as it can get.  I was upgraded on the leg from Dulles to Houston and I must say that Continental is a very fine carrier.  The flight was lovely, great service and video at each seat; I wish United would learn from Continental.  I had been worried about connections but everything was spot on time despite the storms enroute.  The connection to Singapore was perfect - they kept a seat next to me open, which is almost like being in Business class - and my bag was the first to arrive so I was out and on the train in no time.  As much as I love the Metro here in Moscow, after having used the Singapore subway system things here look a bit shabby, due I’m sure to the fact that they have fifty-year-old rolling stock.

I was too tired to go out to dinner so I whipped up an appetizer of pan fried little potato dumplings that Cindy had had for dinner one night.  I browned them in butter and garlic and served them with fresh chives and a touch of Parmesan cheese.  I then made a little onion, garlic and red pepper omelette and served it on a bed of spinach. By 8:30 we were both falling asleep so we headed to bed early. I took something Cindy gave me and slept until 8:15 this morning.  I’m still feeling a bit tired but that will pass with some walking.

Every place has its harbingers of spring:  The swallows come back to Capistrano, the bluebirds return to Charles Town and here in Moscow, the boys of The 54 Club return to their clubhouse.  I was thrilled to see five of them convening a meeting this afternoon.  Refreshments were being served, well at least the bottles were being passed around, and everyone seemed to be in a fine mood with lots of greetings being extended to passersby.

Speaking of celebrations, it appears that my alma mater has won the national championship in basketball for the third time.  I’m told that is quite an accomplishment and I was dismayed that some of the students at UCONN used this victory as an opportunity to trash the campus and vandalize the area.  It is quite a tribute to stupidity when you can turn victory into defeat.

There is a third international airport here in Moscow that not many people are aware of since it is mostly used for the big shots as their private airport. It is called Vnukovo and it is about to get another runway, which will close if for while. This means that the politicos and other wealthy will have to use Sheremetyevo, which can only be reached by one road.  This means huge, huge delays during holiday periods or other times that these folks will travel since they actually close the entire road for top government officials as they travel to the airport.  Last year they had three-hour delays and this year they expect those will double.

At least the Bank of Moscow president, Andrei Borodin, won’t have to worry about travel delays. He left Russia yesterday, just before he was to be arrested on charges of providing a half-billion dollar loan to the wife of the then Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov.  Turns out the loan went into her personal account. Rumor has it that Andrei flew to London where Yuri and wife are living quite comfortably.

With a big nod to the Cold War era, Russia passed a new Criminal Code, which states that the sale or purchase of ‘…special technical devices intended for the covert collection of information’ is outlawed.  This has been interpreted to mean any device like an iPhone, Blackberry or other PDA that can record conversations. You have to read the details to truly understand the lunacy. 

This was the first day this year that I was able to go walking with just regular sneakers and man was it fun.  Just being able to get up a head of steam and not worry about ice or snow was a joy.  On my walk I noticed a few more Russian signs that it is spring.  The young girls have either hiked their skirts up about four inches or they are wearing much shorter jackets, there is a lot more drinking while walking going on, and as a result, there is a whole lot more public drunkenness, not just from the likes of The Club 54 members.  I saw two “fall down, stay down” episodes of drunks today in just 90 minutes.   I think a lot of people who had just abandoned driving for the winter are back on the roads since there was gridlock everywhere I went.  There was one traffic cop by the intersection where our road meets a main road. It is always a mess there, mostly because no one respects the Don’t Block the Box rule so that even when lights change no one can go anywhere. So the cop is out there trying to direct traffic and make people stop at the light, not inside the box, but this is Russia and authority figures, especially those not armed or in bigger cars, are just ignored.  Even when you have a traffic light as well as a cop, there is still no movement.  Finally the cop just threw up his hands and walked away: Score one for civil disobedience.

The Russian store clerks don’t seem overly caught up in the spirit of spring. I had to get one banana weighed and I’m standing there while the clerk was cutting up a printout of three columns and six rows of new prices. She had one little pair of scissors and she was very focused on her job.  I gave here a few pozhaluistas (please) and one or two izvinite menyas, (excuse me) but she was not to be distracted. Finally a few of the babushkas behind me said a few more forceful words to her and she responded by grabbing my banana as though I had been holding a pistol to her head.  Goodness, they need to have more laxatives in their diets! 

On a happier note, there are clusters of little Snowbell flowers near our door and about forty tulips have just extended the first inch of leaf though the thawing ground.  It is all good. 

Best to all, Cindy and Wm.

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