I am from the old days and use terms that are akin to that era. Sveta is a trip to listen to her talk English, as I hear myself in her words. Sveta is sharp as a tack and just calling her an intellect is a disservice to say the least…
One expression that I taught her recently is Cracker Jack’s and Having a Cracker Jack’s License. As per normal, I take her to the internet and we look up what I am talking about. Then she starts using these terms that I teach her in everyday life…
It is strange to hear my words come from her mouth and I smile when I hear my terminology…
This “Cracker Jack’s License” comes up every time I drive Russia and every time I see a map of wrecks at any given time in Moscow! (Well except maybe three am in the morning…)
Look at this map which is 3:40 in the afternoon…
Driving Moscow is interesting to say the least. The red circles with дтп in the middle is an accident of some type. This changes regularly and stays full like this all day during regular driving times. It does clean up during the wee hours of the night though…
Actually traffic would not really be an issue in Moscow except Muscovite’s wreck into something constantly! I mean they drive so bad that they hit everything. In Russia it seems to me that instead of using the brake to avoid something, they press on the gas pedal to try to go around it. Hence I say…
What? Did they get their license from a Cracker Jack Box?
When we go for a ride in Moscow! I can promise you that you will see several wrecks and the places we travel, there are times we see a dozen wrecks a day. Many of them are very serious, because a Russian will, if his car is able to go 250 km per hour, will drive that fast even in a residential area. Much less care if there are cars in front of him. That is what the opposite side of the road is for, or a sidewalk…
We make it unscathed because I drive very defensively and watch every move the other drivers make…
I remind myself that Russians really never drove until 20 years ago and then it was an avalanche of drivers all at once, but still they need to take all license away and start over…
Maybe, this time really getting a “License From A Cracker Jack Box” would be an improvement?
Kyle Keeton
Windows to Russia…