We walked by this last night and wondered what it was. Tonight I saw the answer - Papa Frost’s house. :) Kids were lined up for a chance to meet him.
A Texan In The Urals
When I went skating the weekend before last, the rink was a mess. There had been a brief thaw a few days before and people continued to skate anyway. As a result, there were deep ruts in the ice, some potholes, and at least one boot print.
It was much better last Saturday and Sunday. The ruts in the ice and especially the potholes were gone. They’ve been using a tractor with a blade on a blade in front and a spinning brush on back to smooth the ice. Some jokester thought he would hold onto the tractor for a ride but that didn’t last long. Eventually they had to put up barriers to that part of the rink because some people insisted on skating there around the tractor. By this time it was about 11 pm, so I gave up and walked home.
It was much better last Saturday and Sunday. The ruts in the ice and especially the potholes were gone. They’ve been using a tractor with a blade on a blade in front and a spinning brush on back to smooth the ice. Some jokester thought he would hold onto the tractor for a ride but that didn’t last long. Eventually they had to put up barriers to that part of the rink because some people insisted on skating there around the tractor. By this time it was about 11 pm, so I gave up and walked home.
Two of my friends paid me a visit and brought a surprise. A little artificial tree and a few decorations. They set up the tree and put some shiny “icicle” strips around my apartment. Since then I bought a strand of lights and a few more ornaments.
It seems that Christmas (or in this case New Year’s) ornaments in Russia are about the same as in America. You can find the usual ball ornaments, Santas, snowmen, angels, etc. The one big difference is here there are ornaments and other items based on a particular animal from the Chinese calendar.
This past year was the year of the rabbit, so there was plenty of rabbit-themed merchandise. The coming year will be the year of the dragon, so there are plenty of ornaments of comical dragons with Santa hats, dragon-shaped plush slippers, dragon salt and pepper shakers…
They opened a skating rink recently in front of the Drama Theatre. If you have skates you can skate there for free, otherwise you pay 100 rubles (about 4 dollars) to rent skates for an hour.
I went there on Sunday and had a nice time, and it was free, since I have skates. I grew up without ice skates. Where in Van Vleck was I going to use them? I always wanted them but they would have been useless.
Some of my friends asked, “how is the ice?” Well, you can’t complain about “FREE” ice. :) Of course it becomes rough after some time. They smooth it periodically by hand. I saw a tractor in there last night, so they are maintaining as best as they can.
via youtube.com
At last I see where the jokes about measuring things in parrots come from!
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Photo by B. Ruchkin, V. German (1971)
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LL 92 Disk
