The General

This post will give you some idea of the general oddness of things round here. When I went to the supermarket with a rucksack on, the security guards at the door made me put it in a big plastic bag and then stuck a sticker round the top so I couldn't steal anything. There are people in Russia who have jobs where they don't have to do anything. There are so many employees at the supermarket, that everything on the shelves is moved every two days! You can't find anything. People in glass boxes sit at the bottom of escalators watching 4 monitors. In fact, there are security guards everywhere with nothing of value to keep secure. When we went to the sports bar which has a casino in it, the guy runs some kind of detector over you, which beeps over mobile phones etc, but he doesn't want to check them. I assume that he knows what he's doing and the thing beeps differently over guns and shit. Although I am suspicious that he hasn't got a clue what he's doing. When Tim went to the police station, he said there were about thirty coppers sitting around smoking. Thirty! Also, everyone is late and unmotivated. The students just can't meet deadlines and so many of them can't work independently. Its all rather frustrating.

The shops are weird too. They are glass fronted with all the products on display on shelves against the glass, packing the entire front wall of the shop. In the middle of that is a tiny window that you poke your head through to ask for beer or chocolate or Russian Grazia or paracetomol or a religious figurine. Its all just a little odd. And you have to pre-pay for everything: internet, gas bill, everything.

Everyday I see something that just makes me chuckle at the silliness of it.

On another note, I've been fiddling around with type and using that as the basis of some cartoons. Here's an example using an idea I had a while ago:



Whether working for a living or just riding for your pleasure, let the world see your life is something that you treasure...