grubby

Don't know if it is because I am grumpy with a cold, or because as the snow melts accumulated detritus - buried for several months - is now exposed, but the air smelt oil-stained today and I was reminded of just how polluted this city is. The local railway station too, which is a natural haunt for the homeless, the poor and stray dogs,  seemed grimmer than usual.

But maybe its just me feeling stupid. I have been wondering for ages what these old women do all day, standing aimlessly around with their trolley bags in the cold. Except that they occasionally rummage for, and then hand over, plastic bottles full of a clear liquid.

more shopping

Gorbushka Market sells electronic goods from digital cameras through to vacuum cleaners; well actually it is now meant to be called Gorbuskin dvor, since the name "Gorbushka" referred to an open-air black market for software, music, videos and electronics which was closed in 2001. However in the more recent shopping centre there is still a huge floor upstairs of cheap, pirated CDs/DVDs and as far as I can tell everyone still calls it Gorbushka.

To be honest I prefer the electronics market at Savyolovskaya/савёловская, which I have written about previously. And I have got cheaper (and better quality) DVDs from Biblo-Globus at Lubyanka.

Pet shopping

Beyond the gates of VDNKh there is a straggling single line of people, mainly older women, standing silently offering a few things for sale such as sweaters or embroidery. Near the gate itself, though, the goods turn out to be almost all kittens and puppies, bundled up inside each person's coat or bag, with only their little heads sticking out.  Sooo cute....

On paying in cash

The Russians have a smart answer to the tendency for paying for stuff in cash - machines in all kinds of public places which you feed with rubles in order to top-up your pay-as-you-go phone and to pay for home internet (and probably other things which I haven't found out about yet!)

The (fuzzy) picture shows such a machine in a butchers shop.

Cash economy

Have discovered a minor but important difference. Everything is done in cash here (we get paid in cash at the end of the month in a brown envelope). Paying the deposit and first month’s rent is a bit of problem, with plastic cards more of a difficulty than a solution. Since I can only draw out a certain amount each day from the ATM – and with only some banks such as Gasprom and SBER not charging a fee - I have been haunting the local cash machines all week accumulating roubles – and living off my lunch vouchers for food.

Even handing over large wads of cash seems clumsy, I’m just not used to counting the stuff.

(and have just discovered that I am being charged a fee by my bank account)