Familiarity breeds something you are already used to
Ok a crap title but it was the only thing I could dream up so early in the morning. Second day of my trip to Johannesburg and woke up at 5:20 and not leaving the hotel until 8:00 so got to do something and this is it.
I was in the taxi going to the airport Sunday which was a late booking. Luckily Judi asked which airport I was using as I would have been on the train to the wrong one Doh and the taxi driver was only slightly strange. A Vauxhall car not too big just an ordinary saloon car but he had driving gloves on which seemed a little unnecessary and seemed to have made an office out of the front two seats. There were clips and folders and holders of various sized all laid out neatly. Phones and pens and his Bluetooth were all laid out to hand. Not one but two air fresheners and given they were different scents the fragrance in the car was slightly nauseating. Car air fresheners are a little intense at the best of times so you can imagine two different ones can fast become overpowering. Curiously there was also quite a large pair of scissors not sure what they were for but no matter.
Anyway he cut down a street I had not been on before but I though I know where this comes out and sure enough a couple of moments later we were next to the English pub. When I say pub it is a real English one, sticky tables and smoke stained walls. Not like you get back home. Up across the bridge and around by the White house (where Yeltsin stood on the tanks and saved Russia from reverting back to communism. A sharp left onto Tervertskia past the gourmet food shop which can only be likened to Harrods. Onward past the high price clothes shops up and across the Garden ring and out of the centre. All of this is familiar to me now and a thought crosses my mind that it is almost a year since we first “nipped” across to take a look at the place and see if we could life here.
A year wow, somehow it just flies by.
Now of course it is all second nature once you get a handle on where you are and where to get Cigarettes, milk and vodka things get easier. The Metro which is my friend has taken me too many places, not quite sure where they all are but the train knows and that’s all that matters.
Once you get the hang of a place it all becomes familiar I know which short cuts to take and when places open and close. The assistants recognize the weird Englishman who points at things and never pays with any coins always notes. (It is difficult to add up the very small coins they have so I save them up and use coins to purchase Metro tickets which only delays the queue slightly.
Life is still ever so slightly routine that is we have regular places to eat and shop but we do push out on a little and adventure off the beaten path occasionally. There must be something of a wandering bug in us but you knew that anyway.
The Russians know how to keep warm and the heating came on 1st of October and 2 days later I was opening windows as the place got warmer and warmer. We even have two rooms with under floor heating. The car goes in the underground garage and the winter coats hats, gloves and scarf’s are all out of their storage and in use. Judi and I both purchased fur lined boots as we prepare for a cold but more importantly a dark winter. So far it has by local standards been mild which means the temperature hovers around freezing all the time with only a couple of short snowfalls which disappear in the city quickly.