Russia, January 19, 1998
Why Are You Remonting?
They will remont all of Moscow by the time you read this
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I've had a long day today. I worked hard for my money
and then went to doctor's office about my knee. All I wanted to do
was buy some cereal and milk for the morning, but such was not to be.
Russian business owners are idiots. Plain and simple they are fools, driven by ego more than sense or money. There is a great grocery store across the street from my house. The Irish House grocery store is Western, convenient, expensive, and I love it. Everything I need is right there, from cereal to cheese, all on shelves where I can caress the cans and jars before I buy the food. Tonight I went there to get the cereal and milk I needed, but I was confronted by a store under remodeling (remont in Russian). I asked a lady working in the store next to it and she said they were changing it into a clothing store. Figures. Right next to the grocery store is a mini mall of about seven stores. All the stores sell outrageously expensive clothes, twice or triple the cost of the exact same clothes at the department store next to the Irish House. I personally have only been there once, reeling horror at the prices, and I have never seen anyone there when I was shopping at the grocery store. Actually I have seen people there, store employees, who mobbed me when I walked in there the only time, falling over themselves to have something to do. Clothes though, especially outrageously expansive clothes, are more prestigious than food. I figure, with all the people I saw in the grocery store, and the high markups on the food, they were making money, but that isn't what really dives the Russians, its glamour! So now I've lost a great grocery store to more overpriced crap. Russia! |
