Driving in Moscow

When we first arrived in moscow I had not brought an international licence with me. The first year I did not drive. On our trip home last year I picked up an international permit. I have increased my driving opportunities and am feeling more comfortable.

Tonight was my first drive for the feeding program. This is a Wednesday evening Corps activity. Several volunteers take hot soup and bread to 2 parks to give out to the small crowds that gather there. The traffic was bumper to bumper and I drove for 2 hours and covered a total distance of 8KM. The trip between stand one and two took nearly an hour - by the time we got there all the clients had left, the drive had taken us so long to get there. Probably 3 Km in an hour! It is an interesting road we travel to get to the feeding place. Two intersections where multiple lanes narrow as well as tram tracks. One of the intersections the cars spread out into 9 lanes and when the lights turn green they all fee into 2 lanes to turn right and 2 lanes go straight ahead- so as well as these 9 lanes spread across is the possibility of trams from both directions - with the trams cutting through the middle to turn a corner in a small side street. We have banned the word unbelievable! ....but I just have to use it.....unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!! The next big intersection where we park the car has about 6 lanes turning left ( from the right of course) and you follow them around a bit and then circle around a lamp post and drive up the tram tracks!!!!

Now I am driving more regularly and a couple of stop start drives to he airport soon gives plenty of practice. the worst was a Sunday afternoon pickup - where we were sent to the wrong terminal - of course we went to the really busy one to find the people were at the other one with far less traffic. So it wa sroud and round until we found our way to the right place. We had the gps on and it seemed to take us miles out of the way onthe country roads - only to find that the gps was set on walking !

My very first drive was to take the car to pick up the Commissioner with the arrangement that Ron would drive the TC back to the office. He livesin a narrow street and Ron did not like how I parked the car , so he refused to drive and so on my first drive I am driving the Commissioner to the office.

The most lost we have been was when we drove to the Australian embassy which is in a small street and off some big streets, near the river and not to far from the Kremlin. So we discovered that if you miss a turn you end up miles from where you want to be or end up crossing over the river and back before you can find the right way. We drove past the Kremlin twice - with Ron trying to read the map - never a good thing. In the end I said let me follow my nose and we finally made it home, but I had to meander through some very small back lanes to connect - so that was a good practice day!

There is the choice of 4 cars you can switch according to the need and what you are doing and of course you sit on the wrong side, shift gears with the right hand and indicate with he left. it is all screwy, but I have finally learnt to go to the left hand side if I am driving. In the beginning it was a very strange feeling to sit in the right front side and not be the driver.

But for all the traffic, for all the apparent disorder there is also an order. Drivers are impatient but tolerant...quite weird really. So quick to blow their horn, but hey always let one car into the gap. Cars lane hop from one side to the other squeezing through the most unlikely little spots. They drive up the tram track and footpaths. For the smallest crashes you park the car where it happened and wait for the police to come with their measuring stick to aportion blame - no worries how far traffic backs up.

The most intimidating is the policemen - mass numbers on corners everywhere and each with a big baton stick, ready to flag down whoever and try and extract a bribe - come with me to my office( his car) and we can settle this!!!!!!!!! So far I have not faced this but there will be a first some time. I have only once just missed a changing red light - and I still only know it was red because a car U turned in front of me and my passenger pointed out a red light. Fortunaltely no police there that day.

So I guess I will venture out some more when the opportunity presents itself - but still the safest is the metro - so I think mostly it is train travel for me!

May days

can you believe that May is half over? Where did the days go. It seems we had hardly had a holiday to celebrate May day and we are preparing for the end of the month.

Since my last blog life in Moscow has quickly returned to normal, in fact we were surprised how quickly normal returned! After the bombings the trains were very quickly on line, for a short period there were memorials but it seems nothing will stop the need to move 10 million russians every day. We travel the metro most weeks and I cannot say that we have ever felt unsafe doing so. Except lat on Saturday night last week - we went into the city and just happened to be at the station of one of the bomb blast. Just as the train is about to take off a man pushes past in a hurry to get off the train. My heart fluttered a moment, but I realised he must have missed his stop, and he made a mad dash for the doors bumping me on the way. Now the doors in a Moscow train are dangerous. As the train prepares to depart they slam shut and no one wants to be in the way. I once got caught in our early days here. The dilemma - you are half in and out - body mostly out - but you hands and bag are in. What to do? drop the bag and pull your hands out and escape with your life! Or hang on and save your bag? Well on this occasion there was a tough big burley man who attacked the doors and opened them for me and I escaped with just a few bruises, my hand bag and a lesson in watch the doors on the train. The strange thing about the train is that they come every 2 minutes or so - if you miss your stop go to the next station and catch one back - maybe lose 5 minutes - but stay safe.

Spring is here and we have ventured out into parks and enjoyed lots of walks and exploring.

Our work has mostly had us in the office in the recent months. Chasing paper trails, reports to be written, planning to be done. Ron is preparing for a project visit to Moldova. and then in July we both go to Ukraine. Our time in the office is mostly administration relating to our roles. For Ron this is about all the projects of the territory - be it feeding people, after school programs or equipment purchases. There is a process to follow to gain the funds and then to bring accountability to the funds. And so he spends his days chasing lots of details and processing this information. My work is a mixture - a lot of things to do with resources for the Territory, but also some PR aspects. One of the areas I see to is the magazines - I work with the editor to ensure the War Cry and Officer magazine is published on time and in a format relevant to today. That is an interesting challenge as I work across the different cultures of our 5 countries and put my western thinking in the mix. I also have responsibility for the various works of translation - books going to print. I also pick up a mixture of special small projects (odd jobs) and sit on a number of boards that have different levels of responsibility. So no getting bored. The challenge for me is to stay focussed and energised when I am not working with people and at a desk pushing papers for much longer than I would like.

Well enough of the grumbles. We are enjoying the experience and opportunities given to us and time is flying by.

I realise I have not uploaded photos for some time - so I close with a promise to work on this and share some of the nice pics I have manged since buying a new camera when home last year.