Author: SDSpivey

Helene and Milton

SDSpiveyLeave a comment

Hurricanes Helene and Milton hit us recently.

Helene was not really powerful in our area, being on the north side where the wind was coming across the state.

There was a oak tree blown over. We have never had any significant sized branches lost before, but because of the highway widening project, the state has removed 4 businesses from near the house and every single tree on those properties. We have no wind buffer anymore.

The damage.

The large oak in the front yard, next to the Georges’ house was uprooted and fell over. Fortunately, it only hit the corner of the portico roof. The only real damage was the crappy wall that Bob had built, it was already wobbly and I should have pushed it over before the neighbors had moved in. It was directly in front of my RV, but it went the other way, phew.

I had noticed it late that night, because it was blocking most of the light from their front light. I went out first thing once the sun was up and began cutting away some of the smaller branches away from the walkway.

The next day, I was at Tru-value rental first thing and reserved their 50′ man-lift. They won’t let me tow with my car (insurance reasons) so I went home and reserved a truck from Enterprise, then went to their office to wait for them to open.

After sitting outside quite a while, I get a phone call. The agent says they have no trucks available, despite the website saying they do and the fact I can see several sitting there. I call others in the area and only one has a truck, but when I ask to verify it has a tow hitch, he states they never allow towing with their vehicles, even though I specifically have rented a truck there before with the precise purpose of towing.

After giving up, I went back out to Tru-value to cancel the man-lift, but I find out they can deliver it for another $125, which is cheaper than the truck rental was going to be anyway. I had it rented for Saturday with Sunday included.

Saturday went smoothly, but since I had used my car to reposition the lift and I was parked in the road, I moved it at the end of the day. Sunday morning I placed it back, but could not get it to “level”, every time I tried to use the controls to lift or move the basket, the siren would blare. Not a sound I want. I tried multiple times, over 5 hours, repositioning it, lifting and retrying to get it even. Every time, the bubbles were showing level, front-to-back and side-to-side. WTF!

They are closed on Sundays, so there was no one I could even call. Monday I was able to get someone on the phone. Turns out, there is a small sensor wheel on the bottom of each of the outriggers that has to be fully extended, otherwise the machine won’t work. One of the sensor wheels was cocked just a bit and was hitting the side of its slot and wouldn’t extend out. I wasted an entire day because of that. I later had to pay for another day (and delivery), without them even giving me a discount.

All that I could do myself.

I spent 6 days cutting branches and piling them up, using the man-lift to get the majority.

Unfortunately, the man-lift could not reach everything (there were branches that were in the way of the basket), and I was left with the main trunk and one branch poking into the ground, which supported the trunk. If I tried to cut that branch, not only would it absolutely pinch the chain saw bar, but it would also fall right on top of me, there was nowhere to run once it started to come down.

I had to call for actual tree guys to come to “finish” it. One company came out and gave me an estimate of $11,000, which was higher than the estimate I had gotten a few years ago to remove the entire tree (before the roof was redone). I did get one to do it for $350, but their skid steer did tear up some of the grass. It will grow back eventually.

My pole saw started sparking internally, so i bought a new one. After dissection, one of the brushes was “frozen” and wouldn’t make good contact any more. Normally the spring pushes the graphite brushes against the rotor, but this one was stuck in place. Oh well, I bought it at Harbor Freight, so what can you expect.

All in, I spent almost $3,000, not counting the money lost from not working.

 

Milton is only a week later. Hurray!

While there was no significant problem with the wind or rain, we did loose power for nearly 72 hours. The power flicked a bunch that evening, but around 10:30 it just went out.

After a few minutes, I could tell it wasn’t going to come back on, so i shut down my computer and web-server and their UPS’s, and having nothing else to do in the dark, so we went to bed.

The next morning, I was worried about another tree that I would have to deal with, but nothing was wrong. I was surprised and relieved.

The neighbors brought out a generator and proceeded to run it for many days and nights. Right outside my window.

I ran an extension cord from the RV to keep the fridge and freezer cold. But I ended up disposing of most of the fridge anyway.

Unlike some people, I have little in the freezer anyway, so little loss there. Before going to the store to refill the freezer, I did do a defrost and cleaned it well. Have to do it sometime, so might as well when there isn’t much to shove into the fridge overnight.

I did not run the generator all the time (unlike the neighbors), after I had turned it on Friday morning, I heard a load screeching coming from it. Either I have a loose belt or my generator’s water pump is froze up. At $300 per hour, I really hope it is the first. Either way, I can’t get my hands or tools in there to do anything myself.

We had power by Friday afternoon, but I still could not go to work as the gas was in short supply in the area. Good, more lost income. I did not work for 18 days, over half the month.

I was able to go to Gainesville for the UK game, it was Homecoming, so I did make a bit of money, but not enough to cover all I have already charged up.

 

I still have a huge pile of debris from the oak tree, too much for the city to collect for free. I want to rent a chipper, but it is $400/day plus delivery, so i will have to wait. Maybe the city will get tired of the pile and give me a break and take it away. Fat chance.

Eclipse

SDSpivey

Mom and I went to Mexico to see the eclipse.

We flew out on Saturday, to Monterrey, in the state of Nuevo Leon. It must not get a lot of traffic, as the airport only had one baggage carousel.

We had a car rented, so we went to the rental area. The attendant took our info and led us outside to get a van to the pickup area. While we waited, three pickup trucks go by, nothing unusual about that, except they had flashing red and blue lights and masked guards in the back along with a mounted gun. Crap, where have I decide to come?

I go into the rental building and the lady taking care of me doesn’t know any English, of course. She asks a few questions via Google Translate, but spends a lot of time tapping on the screen. She then has me “sign” the screen and runs my credit card. She takes me outside to the car, a Yaris. It is white (thankfully in that sun) and I immediately notice the lack of the metal portion of the gas tank cover and a large dent on the trunk.

There are also “streaks” in the trunk from luggage wheels. She documents everything and then Mom and I load up and leave.

I have the address for the hotel, but Waze gives me some bad directions. For example, it might say I need to turn left in 3.2 miles, so I get into the left lane, but as I get close, it suddenly changes to take an exit on the right. I would have no way to cross 3 or 4 lanes in such a short distance, much less doing it safely. I would have to continue on, and make a U-turn as soon as I could. I don’t know if this is common, but they do have many “retourno” lanes marked. I later tried Google maps, but got similar results.

After checking in to the hotel, we went out to get snacks and some water for mom’s CPAP. We ate out and then crashed out, it was only 8, but that’s 10pm back home and it was a long day.

We headed out fairly early the next morning. It was 3½ hours to Torrèon, in the next state over, Coahuila.

The drive was mostly uneventful, the town of Saltillo is near Monterrey, but there is almost nothing after that. We were mostly about a mile or so from a mountain range on each side of us, and just cacti and scrub bushes on a flat sandy ground between.

There were ruins of adobe buildings every so often. We stopped near one so mom could get a smoke, and I went behind to wee.

Occasionally, we’d come upon a small village. By small, I mean less than 10 buildings, total. Calling them villages is an exaggeration, but I have no word for anything smaller. The buildings also were better than the old adobes. At least one was obviously just pallets attached together to make walls and a tarp as a roof. There is very little rain, so that should be enough.

Most villages would have huge speed bumps to make you slow down. They were not so tall that the car would scrape the bottom, but they were not easy on the shocks (or our bodies). I’d have to go over at about 5km/h, otherwise it was too much. A few had local police ready to ticket anyone who didn’t obey. With the speed bumps, how could anyone speed? I couldn’t even get near the posted limit.

The car did not start out with a full tank, so I did have to stop. I think all stations are “full” service, I didn’t see any that you would be able to operate yourself. No different that New Jersey, in that respect.

It came to about 800 pesos, around $45, so no different than filling my car would have been. I was able to pay him directly, but mom had gone inside to buy stuff. Only I had all the cash, so I still had to go in as well.

I used the translator on my ipad to ask the service agent about checking the air in the tires, but he said something and shook his head no. That was another problem with the car, when I picked it up, the “check tire” light on the dash was on. I had done a check, by pressing on each tire, all seemed to feel the same. Crossing the desert with a low tire light is not fun.

We managed to get to the AirBnB in Torrèon a few hours early, so we started looking for lunch. I found a nearby place that had a sign advertising “street food” I ordered 2 of the “regular solos,” which apparently was just a cone of fries with sauce. They had no seating, so we sat in the car to eat. In the plaza, there was a Little Caesar’s with drive through line literally around the building. There was also an agua fresca stand (water with fruit), a cinema with all American movies, and another police truck with gun mount.

There is a securiy gate at the AirBnB, but it was open all weekend, fortunately, bandits take Saturday and Sunday off, so we were safe.

We went for some breakfast food, since we had a kitchen and a fridge. Honey Cheerios do not taste anything like Honey-nut Cheerios. Perhaps because they are made by General Mills, here, but by Nestlé in Mexico. The orange juice was good, but a little bitter.

First thing Monday morning, I made a bunch of peanut butter and apple marmalade (which had small chunks of apple) sandwiches to take to the eclipse. I wanted to eat something local, but I knew that there would be a lot of people there and I didn’t know if many places would even be open. The peanut butter was unusually smooth, no risk of tearing your bread.

Nazas, in Durango state, is a small town. There was a group of police at the start of town (of course) and some locals handing out flyers listing various events that were going on. The flyer also had phone numbers at the bottom that we could call and someone would translate for us, for free. I know that no one here would do that.

I had a spot picked out north of town, down a small dirt road. It looked good on aerial view, but Google had no street view, so I didn’t know if I’d have been able to pull off safely. There could have been a fence or a “curb” where road graders had dug down.

We decided to try out the local’s event. Following signs down a very dusty road, we wound back to a small park next to Rio Nazas, a modest, but fast moving river.

There were lines drawn out onto the ground for campsites, which many had taken advantage of. They had a section filled with various food vendors as well as the obligatory trinket hawkers.

They played music from speakers on a raised stage, that they also “narrated” the eclipse from. From what I listened to, it was all American music. So much for “local culture.”

The sand was super fine, like confectioner’s sugar. This must be what walking on the moon feels like. Unfortunately, it was too easy to kick up and my shoes were quickly nasty looking.

Someone offered mom their chair in the shade. I then noticed really tall grass nearby, it was wild corn growing beside the river. No ears dang it. On the ride back, I did notice some occasional bunches of corn near the highway. It must fall out of trucks.

I briefly spoke with a Japanese man from near Tokyo, who came all the way just to photograph the eclipse. I suppose that’s no crazier than the two of us going.

The eclipse at that location was about 4:28 of totality, the longest along the entire path, hence our reason for being there. It really didn’t feel like it was that long. There was just one bright spot (a Baily’s bead) near the lower right.

In 2017, I saw mini eclipses on the ground, because of the thousands of gaps between the leaves, acting as camera obscuras. I saw the same this time, but the trees were mostly long needled, so the effect wasn’t as pronounced. Also the kids I pointed it out to, either didn’t care or didn’t understand.

After the end of totality, most people were leaving. There was more to see of the eclipse, but most don’t care. There were other events going on, including live music and a canoe race down the river.

Obligatory “staring at the sun” photo.

We waited, but still managed to get stuck in the traffic.

I didn’t see anything on the route out of town, so good thing we had sandwiches.

After getting back to the room, we washed the dust off and then went out to eat.

One of mom’s patients told her about a statue of Jesus, the largest in North America. I found it on the map and figured it would be better to go there first before the restaurant. Once we arrived, there was a small walkway going up the side of the mountain. Hell no, neither of us was going to climb a mountain on foot. So we skipped it.

While sitting at the restaurant, on the 2nd floor, I am looking around at the scenery and spot something atop another mountain. I pull out the iPad map and it was the statue we had been looking for. I have no idea what the first place was, it was 30 minutes away, so definitely not the same. I couldn’t find it on the map again, either.

I had a “Hawaiian” burger, 2 beef patties with small ham cubes and chunks of pineapple. I don’t understand why people want to make tall burgers, if it is larger than my mouth, it is too big. It did taste great and had a wooden skewer holding it together, which I poked myself with several times as I ate.

There was a park next door, with carnival rides and such, so we browsed it briefly, before going to see the statue.

It was about 20 minutes away, so as I’m driving up, it is getting dark, the first time we’ve stayed up long enough to see it. The parking area is only partway up the mountain, so we would still have to climb. Again, no.

Strangely, with the majority of Mexicans being Catholic, I only saw a small number of churches, maybe 4 total. There were small shrines along the roadways, however. Even 20 miles from any building, there one would be. Who was visiting or maintaining these?

All the fun was over, we had to drive back to Monterrey to fly home. If there is one thing more boring than driving through a desert, it has to be driving the same road again.

I had originally decided to drive along the freeway, partly to see the local sites and stop if desired, and partly because I didn’t want to pay a toll and then have the rental company charge me again.

Well, there really were no local sites to see, and the toll was about 22 bucks, so I was going to risk a small double charge.

The freeway mostly travels between the mountains, on the level ground. The toll road travels mostly parallel, but does go through more passes. At one point, we are going uphill. There seems to be a half lane on each side. I see a couple of semis, without trailers, riding along this half lane. I presumed it was so I could see past them if I was to pass. Nope, it was because 2 trucks, with trailers were basically riding across the center line, passing others on their side. Geez.

I notice some electronic signs, something about migration of monarch butterflies. I saw a few pale yellow butterflies, but I think monarchs are orange.

I really wish I had a camera on the front of the car with a screen that had live translations. Too many signs I have no idea what they meant. I am certain I broke a law or two, simply because I didn’t know better.

Some of the multi-lane roads had different speed limits for each lane, like 60-50-40 km/hr, with them painted on the roadway, but most were worn away or faded.

On the way to the airport, I see a couple of men trying to chop the flower stalk of a yucca or agave plant in the median. I had presumed they didn’t want the more than 20 ft tall stalk to fall into the road, or that they didn’t want the plant to spend energy on reproduction. But shortly after getting home, a video was posted that compared asparagus and agave plants. Perhaps they were going to eat it.

Russians love…

SDSpivey

Some of the things I noticed repeatedly that it seems the Russian people must love are:

Red:

They have red on the flag, but also white and blue. Why don’t they care about those colors?

There are red store signs, red outfits, red trains, red everything.

The primary color of Aeroflot and Rossiya airlines both is red, the stewardesses have red uniforms. Although, I did notice the last flight I had, they had more of an orange-red shoes, but maybe the light was messing with my eyes.

This may seem to be a simple leftover from the Soviet days, after all the Soviet flag was primarily red, but I think it could have gone back all the way to the beginning. Rus may have originally meant “red.”

War memorials:

Just about everywhere I went, there would be an included WWII memorial to the soldiers. Nearly every park, no matter how small, would have at least a statue or plaque somewhere.

Parks:

Okay, everyone likes them, but they have so many. One park will abut another park.

They might just have the median of a road with grass, trees, and benches. Barely wider than having another lane.

Cobblestones:

Many streets and some sidewalks were made of cobblestones. Considering that they are just bricks that are made to be rounded on top, and could just as easily be flat, this seems ridiculous. Flat bricks would be so much easier to walk or drive on.

Big lips:

I saw hundreds of women everyday that have had lip injections. I thought this was just an American problem.

Not just to have some definition or get a bit plumper, but full on fish lips.

So gross.

Western styles:

I heard American pop and country music being played on radios and in stores. Not once did I hear any Russian singing, although I did hear some Arabic.

The restaurants are mostly American and European foods (if you exclude the kebab and schwarma stands). KFC and Burger King are rampant, as well as Coke and Fanta.

Shoes, clothing, and handbags are American and European brands. Interestingly, almost every brand is using the original Latin characters, not the Cyrillic that they are able to read. I’m not certain I saw any shirts with Cyrillic, other than work shirts. All “tourist”shirts were English, primarily American city names, New York, Boston, Los Angeles, Dallas, or they were Disney merchandise. You know darn well they never went to any of those places, possibly don’t even know where the city is.

Reflections: Shops and street hawkers

SDSpivey

I would have to say about 1 in 6 stores in this place is a vape shop. Jesus, there are a lot of them. There is no way they can have a profit with the number of competitors. There is no way they make enough money to pay for the electricity for the garish LED lights, that each has.

On one strip of seven shops, three were vapes and one was a taбak (tobacco).

That’s another one, tobacco sellers. I’m not just talking about the taбak shops, but there are guys selling cartons of various brands, including Marlboro, all over. Even one guy who parks right in front of my hostel and props up his display, every day.

Surprisingly, I don’t see that many people smoking or vaping, in Saint Petersburg. Perhaps it is strongly discouraged in public areas.

On the other hand, wherever I go, at least one trash can is smoldering because of someone dropped a cigarette in there.

Other overly common stores: bra and panties, cellphone cases, shoes, designer clothes, socks, pharmacies, and fruit and vegetable stands.

Russia must be full of sick people, every block has a pharmacy. Looking through the window, I can see that everything is locked away. You’ll have to pay before you get your stuff.

There must be more cellphone cases in Russia than cellphones.

Haven’t you ever been walking down the road and thought, “Hey, I wish there was a way I could buy socks right here, instead of going all the way into a store.” In Saint Petersburg, you can buy socks right on the sidewalk. So convenient.

Just like Shanghai, every vegetable stand has the same items, placed the same way. It must be their version of franchising.

I did find the clothing version of Akihabara, right in my backyard. Seriously, it is in the alley behind my hostel.

There are hundreds of stalls, across acres, selling every single type of garment you can think of. Google says Apraksin Yard is centuries old, I can believe that. It has dirt roads, not that they were always dirt. The paving has been crushed and worn away.

You can tell the authenticity of the product by the names, like Lago blocks and Mimecraft toys, or Nike shoes with the swoosh going the other way.

Many of the product boxes are sun faded, so you know they are in high demand.

I suppose most of the products are real, it must be cheaper to send via train on land than a ship across the ocean, plus adding on the US tariffs, which is just another tax on the American people.

Around town, you’ll find the occasional beggar, but some will have something to sell. I saw several old women selling bandages. Yes, you could buy individual bandages, as if you just cut yourself and had that need right now. At least they’re doing something that might be useful.

I don’t begrudge the musicians or singers that are trying to make a living off their talent, but I can’t stand the beggars.

In Moscow, there is a man laying by the door all day, every day. He will never find work or food laying there. If he’s really hungry, there are plenty of pigeons. Not something I would do, but given no other choice…

 

Returning home

SDSpivey

I awoke on Wednesday morning, about 8am, that would be 1am at home. I quickly showered and dressed, loaded the remaining items and left.

My checkout was easy, I had asked the day before, just leave. They don’t issue any keys, so nothing to return. They collect the money at check in, so nothing left to pay.

A quick metro to the train station and walk out to the platform. I realize that the platform was brand new, the tracks had the granite stone holding everything in place, but there was still a gap between the tracks where you can see the dirt. Also, the rock isn’t covered in brake dust yet and no trash was present.

Russians have very few benches, for some reason, so I stand and wait. Not long, the train pulls up and I enter.

The AeroExpress was just as long as before, slow. I had done a Google map test, it was faster to drive a car to the airport, than to take this train, even though the train doesn’t have red lights. It would have also been faster to take the metro to the end of Line #2 and then the airport bus. But since I had already paid, and I have no car here, this is the route I must make.

Besides, I have many hours prior to boarding, so I really am in no hurry.

SVO artwork

We arrive at the SVO airport platform and must enter a security checkpoint. Just a quick x-ray and metal detector. Apparently normal at Russian airports.

I enter the large “common” area. There is a extremely large wall display of the upcoming flights. When I say extremely, I mean it. It must have been 50 feet tall and 300 feet long.

Despite the size, my flight was still not showing. I was that much early.

After browsing around a bit, checking all the restaurants, I see my flight listed, but check in isn’t for another 4 hours. I told you I was early.

I decided on a “bar” that had a clearly posted menu, with English. The prices were reasonable. I ordered a pork hamburger and fries, 840₽. I handed her 850₽, she gave me 10₽ in change, but it was all 1₽ coins.

The pork was good, but had no sauce. The fries were a bit soggy and had no salt. I see no salt anywhere and the clerk had disappeared. This is breakfast, so I eat anyway.

I was going to order a salad, not only for nutrition, but to use the all of the last of my coins. I already know that probably no exchange in the world will take coins, the bastards. But the food is lackluster and I don’t see her any where, so screw it.

Finally, check in time arrived. It was a quick and painless process. I enter the door for customs, nothing to declare. The guard asked me if I had more than $10k equivalent, I denied, I’m not rich after all. He allows me to pass.

Another door and security checkpoint. Again, simple, put everything on the conveyor and walk through metal detector. No shoe removal, no electronics separation, no BS, no problems. TSA PreCheck is easy, but not as easy as going through Russian checkpoints (but there are a lot more of them).

Last door, then passport check. The officer asked for my continuation documentation, I handed over my flight printout from Orbitz, not really proof, but accepted. Passed.

I then have to walk down the hall to the end, because of course my gate is all the way down there. Every store in this area is “duty free.” There is Beluga caviar, wines, perfumes, hand bags, expensive electronics, etc. All the duty free shops accepted rubles or Euros, I guess in case you had already exchanged your money.

I see a PS5 for €699, about $750. But after a quick check of Amazon, I could buy one for only $500. No savings, no thanks.

I verify the display at the gate is right, then sit at a seat with power. And wait. I still have over five hours until boarding.

I pull out my iPad and watch some TV episodes. (After I arrived home I find I watched 14 hours of video, probably about 17-18 if there had been commercials, just from sitting at airports.)

At some point a plane docked and unloaded at the gate, good my plane is here. Later I see a mechanic covering the engine cowls, odd if they are going to be leaving soon.

Flight is at 9:15pm, boarding is about 8:50, so I watch one last video that will end at 8:30. That will ensure I can go ahead and hit the toilet and re-fill my water. But as I finish the episode and stow everything back in my bag, I notice the gate has gotten much emptier. I recheck the display, the next flight is showing, not mine. I then have to go down the hall to find a master display, they’ve changed my gate to the other end of the hall. Seems oddly familiar, as if this happened recently.

The hall is quite long, maybe 200 yards and I had to go down an escalator. arriving at the new gate, they were boarding.

This was the first time anyone had ever separated my boarding pass. I had just been wondering why the boarding passes have a perforation, if no one ever separates. Well I guess some do.

Stepping passed and walking down the small hallway, we all step out side, another bus to the plane. Geez, does no one in Russia get to step directly in or out of a plane to the terminal?

My approximate flight path.

I had looked at my flights recent paths. I see it stays well away from the Ukraine border. Originally I was going to take Turkish Air from Moscow all the way home, but I had Aeroflot credits so I opted to use them for this flight.

There is no way Ukraine would fire upon a Turkish airliner, but I didn’t think about how I wasn’t going to be in a Turkish plane for this flight. I didn’t think about it, until now. Oh crap.

Needless to say, I did not die in a fiery explosion. We landed smoothly and parked at the gate in Istanbul.

I am on an international flight and leaving on another international fight, not entering the country proper, just the customs territory, no security needed.

Oh, things are not that simple.

I had to walk down about a mile to change terminals.

I had to check in with Lufthansa to get my next boarding pass. Then passport control and security. WHY?????

I had just exited a plane and had no access to check baggage. What could I possibly have done to require a new check of my stuff?

While at the gate, I see that I haven’t worn my coat since I arrived in Russia, so I jam it into my suitcase. I also determine that I don’t want my backpack at my feet. My foot had gone numb on the latest flight, the bag took all the space, so I couldn’t move.

You are supposed to place the case in the overhead bin and your personal item is to go under the seat. Nope, I immediately placed both in the overhead. If I need something, I can get it later after takeoff.

Oh, so much better.

I have a one hour, fifty five minute layover at Frankfurt, great. If things ran smoothly.

We load onto the plane and the plane pulls out from the gate, but then captain makes an announcement that Frankfurt airport has a landing strip closed for repairs, so we have a tight window to land. OK, sounds simple. We had to sit 37 minutes waiting for the right time to leave. Why didn’t they just have everyone wait in the terminal? Why sit there burning fuel for no reason?

I did crash out before we took off though.

I realize there is a bad side to using foreign airliners, the safety briefing is in the native language and then again in English, twice the boredom.

The landing and take off in Frankfurt is at the same terminal and both flights are on Lufthansa, maybe this will be easy.

Nope, arrivals and departures are on different levels and to access the other you must go through security.

Because of the change of gate at SVO, I didn’t get a chance to refill the bottle of water. At security, I still had the bottle, which was confiscated and disposed of. No problem, I have another bottle. I can just fill it at Frankfurt.

Because of the take off delay and security, (and another gate change) I arrived after they started boarding. I am way back, but I was able to get both bags stowed. The doors closed very shortly after I sat. So close to being left behind.

Okay, I have a 10 hour flight, no water and I didn’t get to go to the toilet. Great.

Plus side, I had no neighbor, so I could stretch out a little more and I had double pillow and blankets. I had tried laying down, but the seats have just enough contour, that they have a hump as you lay across two. No good. I could move over and stretch my legs into my seat’s leg area though.

I did sleep a bit, but not enough.

The meal was quite good, but small. I’m glad I ate at SVO.

An hour before landing, I need to go, but I’ve never used an airplane toilet. I don’t really want to, it doesn’t seem like something to yearn for, but if I am delayed, I might not get the van to Warner Robins.

We land at ATL. Hurray!

Goodbye Russia, hello real toilet paper.

Even though I am in the section of passport control exclusively for US citizens and permanent residents, there seems to be several people who are not.

The officer at passport control asks where I’m coming from, I answer and he gives me a quizzical look.

“Is this the best time to be visiting Russia?” he asks, like he’s my mother. I explain the need to go now versus loosing my flight credits and my visa expiring soon. He returns my passport and welcomes me home.

I’m not out of the woods yet, I have to find the shuttle to domestic terminal, so I can get the van back to Warner Robins. My email from the transport company stated, “A quick 10 minute ride.” BS, it was over 25 minutes, but I arrived at the van right on time.

I spoke briefly to the lady next to me, who was also on my flight. She lives in Frankfurt and has family in Warner Robins. Coincidence.

I get to Ari’s house, but when I try to put my bags in the car it is locked. Everyone knows I never lock my car. I go in to get the key and press the unlock button, nothing. I get closer and retry, still nothing. Ari says she had just moved the car a few days ago to mow, but now I have nothing.

A jump start attempt latter, still nothing. The battery is on the trunk and I can’t open the trunk without power. But an internet search later, I find out there is a key slot on the trunk, completely filled in with grunge, I had seen it before, but thought it was nothing.

We are able to jump directly on the battery, but as I run around the neighborhood charging the battery, I notice a little bit of a thump. Checking the tires, I see one has exposed steel. It is almost 8pm, very few places are open. The one I check, is open, but is booked with appointments.

I am able to buy a new battery, just in case, and they loan me tools to change it. Cool.

I decide, I have a spare, if it does go flat, then I can fix it then. Didn’t blow out, so no problem.

It is a long way home, we arrive right at 1am. I arose at 1am on Wednesday, it is now Friday. I’ve spent 48 hours on a plane, in a terminal, or in a car. I’m really to go party!

By “party” I of course mean sleep.

I grab my phone and iPad out of the car, but leave everything else, it can wait.

I do a quick check of the house, all seems normal. I go to bed and fall asleep almost right away. I haven’t done that in years.

Reflections: Sanctions

SDSpivey

I asked a few of the people who spoke English about the effect of the US sanctions on Russia, they didn’t even know about them.

The shelves are full, the stores are all open. There is no “run” on products.

I still see a extraordinary number of American brands here. Coke, Fanta, KFC, Burger King, Fridays (without TGI), CitiBank, etc. Some have just changed their name, Starbucks is now Star Coffee, same logo.

The name change is “virtue signaling,” saying something publicly, that seems to be a positive but really has no meaning. Like changing you Twitter icon to a particular color or wearing a pink ribbon for “awareness.” (Who isn’t aware of cancer?) These companies are using the media and the media’s hype to make the consumers think they are socially responsible than their competitors. Really, they just want to appear to care.

If they can sell you an extra can of soda or get you to super-size, because they’re the company that matters, then they’ve done their job of scamming you out of your money.

My understanding is that no American credit or bank card will work in Russia, I haven’t tried, so can’t confirm.

Much like the Cuban embargo, it is only the US participating, so little effect worldwide.

Reflections: Subway and Transportation

SDSpivey

I purchased a 5-day pass for Saint Petersburg, but really most of what I was going to see was near enough to walk. For simplicity, it is better to have the card, otherwise you will have to buy a ticket every time you go in.

The subway stations were originally designed to be emergency shelters, especially against bomb attacks, especially nukes.

The escalators have lamps on poles, every 8-10 feet. Each has a numbered decal, starting at 1 at the bottom. I presume that the numbers are there to have set places to measure radioactivity, to determine rising or falling levels.

I did notice that the handrails move just slightly faster. Over 150+ feet, this would be a lot and could throw you off balance.

At the bottom of each, an old woman watches monitors, to make sure no one is breaking the rules. I saw several that were on the verge of passing out, it has to be a super dull routine. Also, there is graffiti in some, so they are not really doing their jobs.

The signs are generally clear, and all include Latin transliterations.

Some platforms have modern clear doors, to prevent falling into the tracks. Others have solid metal doors (bomb resistance?). Most are just open, not falling is totally your responsibility.

If you discover you’re going the wrong way or passed your stop, just get off, walk across the platform, and get on the train going the other direction.

The trains themselves are comfortable, for public transport. But I could see a regular user getting hearing damage from the noise of the wheels on the tracks.

Trains come about every 2 minutes apart.

One train had a display showing the next station upcoming, and the temperature, time, and speed. We got up to 78km/h (48mph). They seem to spend about 75% of the time accelerating, then decelerating only as they enter the next station. They might not make it into Formula 1, but they do have some G forces.

Saint Petersburg only has 5 lines, so far, so knowing how to get from here to there is easy.

Moscow has 15, right now, including 3 rings and a monorail. Plus there are regular rail stations attached to the metro stations, so you could go almost anywhere in Russia or nearby countries without needing a car or plane.

My room is on Line #3, but I noticed one day, I was at the #6/#7 station, but neither of them connected to #3. That means I had to do at least two transfers. That’s a pain.

The stations are reasonably clean, despite not seeing any trash cans. Graffiti was very minor, markers on escalators, mostly.

All the stations have temp barricades everywhere to funnel you in one direction. But some are in the way of access, like one had the first 3 openings to the track closed off. You might miss your train because you had to go further.

Some stations have many entrances/exits, allowing you to tunnel under many roads and avoid rain or snow.

It seems that every block has a bus stop. I like this as most have area maps with a “5 minute walk” circle around your location. They have some highlights to see, statues, restaurants, shops, etc.

I see now I should not have used the AeroExpress train. It would have been faster and cheaper to take bus from airport to metro station. So much for “express.”

Reflections: Food

SDSpivey

Food has been a ongoing problem. Not the eating food or the flavor, but the getting.

Most of the restaurants here are kebab, shwarma, pastries, Chinese, Mexican, American, or appear too expensive. I came to try Russian food, not KFC or Burger King. Seriously, how are there more KFC’s here than all of Florida? (The state tore down the one next to the house, so we don’t have a KFC in town anymore, not that I went there often.)

If I find a reasonable priced Russian restaurant, I still have the problem of ordering, few have Romanized menus, and so few people understand English.

I did stop at a small café and pointed to a savory dish, label says 145₽, but the total was 382₽, the ticket says 1446.97*0.264kg, none of those numbers is 145. Did I get overcharged? Did they put the wrong price on the label? If so, that is 1447₽ per kg, not 1450.

Even going into the supermarket, many brands are the exact same as at home. Perhaps they have more flavor variations, Lays Chips has lobster, crab, and shrimp cocktail flavors. I did get a bag of Lay’s crab, it tasted like you had made a great dish, but then added crab to it. Not terrible, just would have been better without.

I have a limited kitchen setups and no freezer, so in purchasing some foods, I wouldn’t be able to make.

The kitchens also have signs about no smelly foods, fish in particular.

An Uber customer told me that to get an Irish stew, in Ireland, you have to go to a pub, not a restaurant. Perhaps something similar is going on here. Odd, now that I think about it, I don’t think Ive seen a Russian bar. Plenty of liquor shops, but no bars.

Last day

SDSpivey
Tiny, tiny flowers

I have nothing left to see, but I scrolled around the map looking for anything. I visited Gorky Park, but only the northern most part. So I took the subway to near the south side and went in.

Actually, I find that I’m not in Gorky, not even near it yet. This is Neskuchny Garden, a pleasant wooded area with paths going every direction. It is wooded, so how is it a garden?

The paths are hard packed, and meandering. It doesn’t matter which way I go, I’m just exploring.

Quack!

I pass soccer field, tennis court, basketball court (in a cage), and a bunch of ping pong tables. At a playground, there’s a building, so I use the camera translator. It’s the chess club. I would not think a playground would be the quietest place to play chess, but I’m not that good either.

More ponds with ducks, this one had a duck and drake protecting the ducklings from an ogre trying to take their photo.

Peahen

I find a cage with a peahen inside. Don’t know what the point was.

Another war memorial, this had a fountain, but you can tell it hasn’t operated for years, not in the budget.

There is a bridge across the river, but I find it is just a pedestrian bridge. Geez, that’s a lot just for a few people to walk across.

It doesn’t matter where or when, I keep running into groups of kids on field trips. This must have been an easy day for the teacher, I can’t imagine they are really learning anything looking at fountains.

I see a bunch of balloons on a building, must be a party or wedding, nope, just some people doing tae bo, but no Billy Blanks.

I’m looking at a fountain for a bit, before realizing it is the same one I saw a few days back. It looks different without the stage and all the kids around it.

I meet a UK lady walking her dogs, so I ask her if there’s anywhere with Russian food. She tells me of a place, Grand Cafe Dr. Jhivago. Obviously, named for the famous movie.

It only has two $$ on google, so I decided to splurge, I don’t have to worry about keeping to a budget anymore.

I was seated on the sidewalk, I don’t know if I would be comfortable inside, it was still a bit fancy. The wind was ok, but it did pick up before I left.

Fortunately, the hostess and waitress both had English comprehension, and the menu was multilingual.

I had an appetizer of mushroom “dumplings,” really ravioli, with a wonderful sour cream. I could have just eaten a bowl of the sour cream.

Then I had a Siberian cod, covered in French fried onions and a cream sauce. It also had potato chips, made themselves. This feels like the kind of place where you don’t use your fingers to pick up food, but there is no other way to eat crispy thin wafers.

It had a side of grilled broccoli, almost an entire head, way bigger than I expected. It had a mustard seed and vinaigrette coating.

Everything was so good. I don’t know if it really was Russian or not, but I’ll pretend it was.

We are on the road next to the Kremlin. A large motorcade goes by, but can’t see into the cars, maybe Putin.

An expensive Maybach, a sub brand of Mercedes-Benz parks right next to the sidewalk, the hotel doorman places cones around it. That’s what being rich is like, you just park your car wherever you want. To hell with those poor people trying to get to work.

Total 2410₽, I paid in hundred ruble notes, which I suppose is the equivalent of a stack of $5’s. I’m so low class, I made a faux pas.

As I eat, it is getting colder and windier. As I leave I begin to feel drops. It could have remained nice out, I only need another 24 hours.

Tomorrow, I have to checkout by 11, but my flight isn’t until 9:20pm. I could roam around, but I’d have to lug my bags around, no fun. So I guess I’ll have a nice long day at the airport. Hurray!

I need it to not be raining while trying to get to the train platform. After that, pour down, it won’t bother me.

Long pedestrian bridge.

Rainy Morning

SDSpivey1 Comment

When I awoke, I could hear rain falling. Good, I can just stay in bed.

I tried to sleep, watch videos or browse sites. Finally I noticed the rain had stopped.

First thing I had to do, my metro card expired, so I had to get another. I entered the station, but there’s no one at the ticket booth, the ticket machines do not have any language selection. If you can’t read Russian, you can’t use the machine.

The next station is on the other side of the road, seems simple, but cars are much faster than bikes. I don’t feel up to dodging vehicles. I have to go down to the next major intersection, cross, then come back down to the other station. Only about a mile, just to that side.

I enter the station, but they don’t even have a ticket window. I should have bought one yesterday, while I still had access to move around, but I didn’t.

Now I have the choice, walk to the next station, or walk everywhere. The next is a 3-line intersection, so busy enough to have someone on duty, please.

This ride only takes 5 minutes, how long will it take on foot? Too many.

I finally get to the metro station and get my ticket. I only need two days, but it is cheaper to get the 3, maybe I’ll give it to someone when I leave.

I can now get on the subway back to my room. Fortunately, I didn’t shower yet, so I’m not wasting a change of clothes walking station to station, actually, its more the stress than the walking. I do shower once I return.

Glass design at the US Embassy

Now, where to go?

I’ve done all my saved places, except one, the US Embassy.

It lies between stations, so I have to walk there anyway.

It is an unassuming building, which is fine, it is just an admin office, after all. The only thing interesting is they have a glass barricade (bulletproof?) that has a really cool “space” motif.

I walk down the front, then one side, and the back. There is nothing interesting about the rest, just a tall reddish wall with cameras every 10 feet or so and guard stands at entrances.

Rather disappointed about the guard stands, I don’t know if any marines were in them or not, likely, but not definitely.

Walking on randomly, I came across the Moscow Zoo, well what the heck, might as well go in, I have nothing better to do. Tickets are from a machine that only accepts credit cards. Again, thanks Biden.

I find out I could have stayed at the Crazy Monkey Hostel. Dang, an opportunity missed.

There were reports of paintings in some of the metro cars, but I had seen no evidence of that, until today. I lucked out and got on a very old car that had a bunch of seats removed. In place there are artworks displayed.

They appear to be reprints of water colors, none too spectacular.

To see all, you’d have to get off at each station and run up to the next car and re-enter. That seems too much effort. Better would be if the art was on one of the trains that allows movement between cars.

I randomly decided to get off at station Park Pobedy, as it is named for the park it stops at. Pobedy is Russian for “victory” and the park is all about the victory over the Germans.

This must be the worst park in Moscow. It is just a huge expanse of granite, 700 yards long, barely a plant anywhere. Also, I have to walk directly towards the sun, so I can’t really see the other end very well.

There is the required sculpture depicting the victorious soldiers and one side of the plaza has a row of columns with wreaths on them. The other side has fountains, but the water just shoots upwards a few feet, not spectacular at all.

Off to one side, I entered a small church. Very small, my bedroom is about as big as the inside of the church. There were many depictions of various saints for you to prey to.

Down a sidewalk, I find a small playground and I sit in the shade for a while.

I must be getting old, my new favorite thing is to sit.