My Travelocity Fare Watcher says that prices from LAX to Moscow have dropped to $441. That’s pretty darn good!<\/p>\n
When I went to Russia<\/a> the first time, in 1991, I had to pay $1200.<\/p>\n For some reason, I was talking to my bus friend Rufina about Russia today. I was telling her about how we carried eggs home from the market.<\/p>\n It is my impression that supply lines in Russia have always been bad. This was especially true when I was living there, 91-93. There were rations in effect for us. FLour, salt, sugar, tea, candy, you had to have ration stamps for all this.<\/p>\n After a few months, the rations stopped. But that didn’t mean that supplies were readily available. One of the commodities that was hard to find was eggs.<\/p>\n Eggs were precious.<\/p>\n They weren’t around very often. I took me a while to realize how long they weren’t around. We’d been there for a few months, and I think I asked about where to buy eggs.<\/p>\n “They will be coming later.”<\/p>\n So I waited. I didn’t really think about it, but one day I was walking down the Prospect, and there was a huge line.<\/p>\n THe natural thing to do when you see a line in Russia is to get in it. You have to be prepared to take opportunities when they arrive.<\/p>\n I asked the people in line what was being sold, and it was eggs.<\/p>\n The line was amazingly long. I was surprised, because I hadn’t seen this kind of line before.<\/p>\n I had already learned to carry a string bag in my pocket. You had to be prepared to buy enough of what you needed whenever it appeared.<\/p>\n But how do you carry eggs home?<\/a><\/p>\n They didn’t have then in dozen cartons like in America. We were only allowed to buy 20 eggs each, because it was only fair that everyone got a few.<\/p>\n Believe me, I had my doubts about carrying those 20 eggs back to the apartment. First, would the mesh of the string bag let the eggs slip out?<\/p>\n Apparently not. I watched all the people ahead of me walking out with a string sac of eggs, gently laid together.<\/p>\n I guess the point was to walk slowly and carefully.<\/p>\n Neither of which I am good at.<\/p>\n But these were eggs! Eggs were precious.<\/p>\n I purchased my eggs, and slowly and tenderly laid each one in the sac. I held the sac carefully away from my side, to avoid bumping into it.<\/p>\n Visions of the mess and tragedy that would ensue if I tripped and fell kept me very focussed.<\/p>\n One foot in front of the other, I walked the few blocks to our home.<\/p>\n I believe we ate our last few eggs that night, the ones from the last shipment.<\/p>\n I wonder if they sell eggs in cartons there now?<\/p>\n Probably.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My Travelocity Fare Watcher says that prices from LAX to Moscow have dropped to $441. That’s pretty darn good! When I went to Russia the first time, in 1991, I had to pay $1200. For some reason, I was talking … Continue reading