Coffee Thinking’s in Russia…

Boza During the "Wax on - Wax off..."

This morning it was -5 degrees and brisk outside. The little puddles from this last weekends rains had frozen solid last night. The air was clear and the sun had peeped from behind a pillow of a cloud. It was a perfect morning and I was really looking forward to my cup of coffee…

I was doing some thinking‘s while drinking that cup of coffee and they encompassed these last few weekends…

Sveta and I have had some major projects to accomplish and we have gotten them done. One of the projects was to wax our Volga (Sammy) and get her ready for winter while we were at the village this last time. That was a huge job and Sveta was a trooper and helped every step of the way. Sveta had never seen a car waxed before, much less do it herself. The car had never been waxed in its life, so the first time is a doozy. (It still seems strange to me that owning a car in Russia is still a luxury to most people’s way of thinking.) Sveta learned how to “Wax on – Wax off!” 🙂

So that waxing project brought me to when we went to the village this last time and while at the village we created a issue that had to be fixed this last weekend…

So now my thoughts turned to this weekend. Sveta and I had to put a new exhaust Y-pipe on the Volga. Sveta and I had taken a new way home that turned out to have a section of road that had potholes the size of our car. Yes literally…

I was easing into these potholes full of water that looked like mortar shells had bombarded the road way during a war and we came upon one pothole much deeper than all the others. By the time I realized that it was too deep, I had done the damage. I had cracked the Y-pipe on the car…

Potholes...

So this last weekend that we just finished. Saw Sveta and I looking around for a new pipe and then finding a suitable place to have it put on. I would have done it but I do not have the lift to get under the car and I would need to purchase several tools also. The total cost of me doing it would most likely have been equal or more than just getting it put on…

Somethings I have had to learn to not do, because of my health and laying on the ground in -0 degree weather would not do my conditions any good. That is what Sveta tells me and I have to follow the boss… 🙂

Next Sveta and I decided on Sunday to tackle going to a mall in Moscow. Now this is not something to take lightly in Moscow. Going to a mall like “Mega Mall” is an experience that can only be matched in America by the shopping day after Thanksgiving. Everyday shopping in a mall in Moscow is like the day after Thanksgiving in America. In fact my favorite three sayings every time I go shopping in a big mall is, “What – Is it Christmas? or Where is the fire that everyone is going too? or Who taught these people to drive a shopping cart?”…

The fact is that Russians are as dangerous pushing a shopping cart as they are driving their cars. And that people, is a scary thing to experience. The undertaking is flabbergasting at times and you really have to be in the right mood to experience a babushka pushing a shopping cart, hell bent on running over everyone in her way…

I have to smile at what Sveta said the same day as we had been shopping, “Oh No! There is a babushka driving that old van!”…

I at first thought so what. American grandmas drive all over the place. Then the mall of terror came into my mind and I thought about a Russia full of car driving babushkas, hell bent on running over everyone in their way…

I will stay home! 😉

Windows to Russia!

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