Rules of the Road

We’ve mentioned this in passing, but things are very different here in terms of all things driving. First off, seat-belts are rarely, if ever, used. Ditto car seats for kids. Hold on or bounce. In addition, it’s spring, and the melt is exposing those areas of road surface which have been damaged by the repeated freeze/thaw cycle. This means that lanes, which aren’t marked to begin with, are frequently ignored in favor of clear road. And they don’t have pot-holes here, they have truck-holes. We passed one a few days ago which could easily have held a pick-up.

Parking is another form of sport. Living where we do at home, we’ve become accustomed to tight parallel parking, and making the best of what little space you find. Here, there are fewer cars, but also fewer rules about where and how they may be left. There’s a parking area in front of our building which variously holds cars which have been parked straight in, angled, parallel, some combination thereof and tipped up on the curb. We saw a very nice Audi yesterday with the right front tire up on the curb of a high sidewalk – for no apparent reason. Guess they aren’t too worried about the suspension – the roads will take care of that anyway!

The vehicles themselves range from older Russian Ladas (see the red one across the street in the picture) through Toyotas, VWs and on up to Mercedes. Our driver has a very nice Volvo.

Next up: Pedestrians – or The Point System. We’ve determined after a couple of weeks that full-grown adults have the highest point value, closely followed by the young, the elderly and the infirm. In short, pedestrians do NOT have any kind of right-of-way here, and it’s everyone for themselves while crossing a street.

As a result of this road chaos, the public transit system is quite robust. There are mass transit vehicles of every size, length, width, height and state of disrepair (all are privately owned, but subject to prices fixed by the government). The length of the bus’ route is directly proportional to the layers of dirt and mud caked on its exterior. Note: if you and a bus approach a pothole at the same time, the bus will always win…especially now that we’re in melt season. The rivers (oh – I mean streets) are flowing, but especially so at intersections. As a result, anyone waiting to cross stands well back of the curb to avoid a mud-bath.

OK – travelogue over for the day! We have very few pictures of Nicholas today, but for a good reason. He seems to have really accepted us – kind of like getting over a hump. He was more playful than before, and his attention span was longer when playing with us and with his toys. He would spend a few minutes per toy, rather than the 45 seconds each we’ve been seeing. And there was lots of time spent using Mommy and Daddy as live action bouncy seats and walkers.

Our first for the day – a truly stinky diaper. Now it’s been a while since I’ve had to change a diaper (about 22 years, if I recall correctly), and Jim has never done so – so we approached this with some trepidation. The stinky was the worst part – but all 3 of us survived. Of course, today’s meal must have been roughage based, as he graced us with another opportunity less than a half hour later. One of the care-givers offered, and we happily took the cowards’ way out!

We do hope we’re able to change our visiting time, if possible. We visit from 1-2:30, but there’s not all that much opportunity to play when he starts getting cranky by 1:50, and is out like a light by 2. Yes, it’s nice to hold a sleeping boy, and yes, it’s good that he trusts us enough to sleep in our arms, but it would be better if we could actually interact with him more. Grrrr. Oh – and whatever he ate before we arrived not only was roughage, but it also gave him about the worst breath I’ve ever smelled. Jim chickened out and stayed away but I had no choice with the little guy asleep on my shoulder, huffing in the direction of my nose! Ah well – I’m sure mashed peas and carrots will have the same effect when we get home!

All the kids were on edge today – lots of whining, crying and crawling over each other. Jim’s musical talents came in handy again, as did the xylophone that Diane & Thorsten gave us. He used the sheet music to play some kid tunes on the piano and on the xylophone and a mesmerized silence reigned for the duration of the music. Even the care-givers were appreciative. Thanks guys – music not only soothes the savage beast, but also the little beasties at Dolphin House.