Two new driving laws came into effect 1 January.
- Seatbelts must be worn if, indeed, the car is equipped with seat belts. If the car doesn't have seat belts, don't worry about it.
- Your car's licence plate must be clean. Your car can be filthy, a loophole for which I am very grateful, but the plate must be clean.
The second law adds a step to my pre-driving check. Now, I go outside and hope I see my car. (Much less towing in the winter than in the summer, so it's usually where I left it.) I unlock the car with the key. The clicker was one of the suspects of battery drainage. (They disconnected it and removed my alarm...to no effect. The answer actually seems to be to start it daily and let it run for about 20 minutes. It's either that or disconnect the battery and bring it inside every night as many of my neighbors do. That gets messy. I'd have to lean against my car to do it...and that would mean washing my coat. What they've done to this car over the years I have no clue. But, I digress. Shocker.)
Then, I start the car and turn on the heater and rear defrost. If it's icy, I scrape. If it's not, and it hasn't been very often in the last two years, I take a window squeegee and squeegee off the dirt from my windows. Sometimes I only have to do the windows on the street side. I have learned the hard way that it is best *not* to squirt the windows with cleaner first. This just makes mud. I simply squeegee off the layer of dirt that has accumulated overnight. Nice, huh? Imagine what we're breathing...
Before I get in the car, I check my licence plates. If they're not clean (with the red clearly showing to dissuade militsia from stopping me) then I take the spray bottle of windshield wiper fluid and the roll of paper towels from the back seat and clean them off. All trash goes in the big bin and we're ready to go!
And then we begin the adventure that is driving in Russia.
Russia suffers from two misfortunes: bad roads and foolish people.
--Nikolai Gogol
7 comments:
Sounds like quite an experience. There's a sandwich restaurant here that has cups with all these little sayings all over it. One is "So fast you'll think we're Russian." I think it's because Russian sounds like rushin', but for anyone that knows about Russian drivers, it makes sense in the original spelling, too!
You are very brave to be driving over there...the traffic is crazy! I was very grateful that many things were in walking distance of where we stayed. I think if I lived there, I'd become familar with the metro. Which seems confusing...but geez, your driving routine (e.g. finding your car!) doesn't sound real fun either. Glad your car seems to be running though...have you had a chance to go back and see Ira yet?
i agree with rachael - you ARE brave. it is amazing, tho, to what one becomes accustomed. by my last trip to russia in july, i was unphased by any of the traffic or roads.
That's quite the morning routine. I agree with Rachel and Votemom...I don't know how you drive in St. Pete's. You're braver than I.
I would have loved the driving experience in Moscow if I only could have...your get ready to go routine in the house is probably much shorter then it is out at the curb!!
I don't think I would try driving in Russia, either. Walking is enough adventure for me. It is a wonder I am alive. I thought sidewalks were for pedestrians!
After the 7th trip to Russia, we learned to laugh at the wild traffic. After all, during our first trip, before we even reached the hotel, we were in a fender bender! Crazy stuff man! NYC got nothing on them!
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