The Politics of Transportation

We’ve mentioned the parking situation here, but didn’t go into anything about how the police, the populace, and their vehicles interact. There seems to be a very well manned police department in Kostanai (not that we want to find out up close and personal). As I write this, 9 am on a Tuesday morning, there is a police car parked outside our building. The two cops (always pairs that we can see) are standing beside their car watching passing traffic. Every so often, they wave large white billy sticks at a particular car, and the driver immediately pulls over, always using their turn signal (Boston drivers take note). I’m not sure what the infraction is, but it’s unlikely to be speeding as we haven’t noticed that at all. In any event, the driver exits the car, and presents the cop with some paperwork. Whether this is a driver’s license, vehicle registration or what, we don’t know. We also can’t tell if any tickets are issued, and then the driver is on his way.

On other occasions, traffic on our street is completely closed, to allow the unimpeded movement of what appear to be VIPs. When this happens, all parked cars must be moved, and all vehicular traffic is stopped for blocks. Everyone is very cooperative, and the delays to normal traffic appear to be minimal.

We went for a walk this morning – over to the main plaza, up by the University, and back through the park. It’s definitely coming up spring…the flower beds are losing their snow cover, and one can see where they are usually full of plants. We couldn’t determine what kind, but it looked as if something with fairly woody stalks had been cut back in the fall. Unfortunately, we won’t be here to see what actually blooms – or if we are, we’ll be in no shape to tell you about it!

Our visit with the little man today was great. We were in the sleeping room by ourselves, rather than in the play room with the other kids and caregivers. This was a first, but without the distractions, it was a really fun visit. Jim got Nicholas laughing out loud, and we have it on video – will show you later when we have more band width to upload. Anyway, Nicholas and Jim were face to face on the floor when Nicholas sneezed. Jim followed with one of his own, and Nicholas lost it. Of course, being the well trained rats (um, parents?) that we are, Jim obliged again and again…anything to get the little man to laugh!

He started to get a little antsy (our toys are apparently old news), so Nan grabbed the first thing at hand – one of Morgan’s toys – an inflated roller/drum thingie with bells inside. Wow – we’ll have to see if we can find one of these at home.

As usual, things ended with Nicholas in his crib - #6, (the one behind Jim in the other picture).

When we got home, Nan went to get a nail color change – for a grand total of $1.25. Meanwhile, Jim captured the afternoon action on our street, left, then right.

This evening we’re off to a nice dinner with Michele & Robertson, who have good reason to celebrate. Go over to their blog http://findingmorganadams.blogspot.com/