RUSSIA, St. PETERSBURG
Arrived about four and was happily surprised to find Vova with Igor. I have not been in direct contact with him for months and was worrying about him. I have good reason to worry and feel helpless in the face of it. His factory job was in plastics and made him horribly sick and indeed he has lost yet more weight. But he seems happy with his wife and baby Irena though money is a constant burden to them.
We are ensconced in an apartment at #13 Marata Prospect just off the Nevsky (central street of the city). It has good studio/living space and two bedrooms. Of course a certain spoiled brat has planted himself firmly in the master bedroom. But I am perfectly happy in my space though the furnishings are sparse. I love the sheer solidity of these old buildings with their deep, deep windows. This place has double glazed windows which makes it pretty quiet though there does seem to be one particular car alarm going off regularly while another chirps one little bleep very minute or two or is that something else… I know this building sits with a couple of others between the Hungarian Consulate and a very swanky Swiss hotel. Maybe the chirp is some security thing.
We have a very sophisticated security system here with a huge steel door opened by gentle brush against what seems to be plastered wall of a plastic thing on the key ring. That leads to a shared entrance with a couple of other apartments and then there is a double dead bolt on our actual door. The feeling of a wild Wild West still pervades to a certain extent and I am not much easier when Alexei (one of Jim’s local partners) told us of his father-in-law being hijacked in his car, driven into the countryside and abandoned. But it is so good to be back among my Russian friends. I had forgotten how much I miss them.
Arrived about four and was happily surprised to find Vova with Igor. I have not been in direct contact with him for months and was worrying about him. I have good reason to worry and feel helpless in the face of it. His factory job was in plastics and made him horribly sick and indeed he has lost yet more weight. But he seems happy with his wife and baby Irena though money is a constant burden to them.
We are ensconced in an apartment at #13 Marata Prospect just off the Nevsky (central street of the city). It has good studio/living space and two bedrooms. Of course a certain spoiled brat has planted himself firmly in the master bedroom. But I am perfectly happy in my space though the furnishings are sparse. I love the sheer solidity of these old buildings with their deep, deep windows. This place has double glazed windows which makes it pretty quiet though there does seem to be one particular car alarm going off regularly while another chirps one little bleep very minute or two or is that something else… I know this building sits with a couple of others between the Hungarian Consulate and a very swanky Swiss hotel. Maybe the chirp is some security thing.
We have a very sophisticated security system here with a huge steel door opened by gentle brush against what seems to be plastered wall of a plastic thing on the key ring. That leads to a shared entrance with a couple of other apartments and then there is a double dead bolt on our actual door. The feeling of a wild Wild West still pervades to a certain extent and I am not much easier when Alexei (one of Jim’s local partners) told us of his father-in-law being hijacked in his car, driven into the countryside and abandoned. But it is so good to be back among my Russian friends. I had forgotten how much I miss them.
posted by Trevor Southey at 2:28 PM
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