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!
1 comment:
I found Moscow driving quite 'Unbeleivable' at times too. Although I didn't get to experience it behind the wheel or even in a car for that matter. We did venture onto a trolley bus one day but the rest of the time the Metro took us everywhere. We did get driven around in St Petersburg (in a vehicle with one headlight held on by sticky tape) but they seemed alot calmer up North.
I totally agree with the observation of order in the chaos. Despite the apparent unlawfulness, lack or signage and road markings it seems to work. I honostly beleive that the drivers in Moscow are so much better than the drivers we have here. They have such an agressive yet careful style that I wish some Australian drivers would adopt instead of the insanely defensive way most people drive.
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