Thursday 9/13

Intermittent rain and sun all over my afternoon walk back from school. I’ve still yet to purchase an umbrella, but the cold and wet makes the soul a little stronger, right? At any rate, the wet streets in the morning make the commute a little more interesting, crammed into a university bus at 8:30 we drive along the embankment past all of the typical Petersburg stuff… bronze horseman, hermitage, peter and paul fortress, combined with wet streets this a magical scene makes. On the other hand it is very cold, for September around 10 C during the day, if you’re keeping track) and the moisture will certainly make for a rough fall. Again, though, strength for the soul.

At any rate today I left Smolny with some second hand store ambitions, but chickened out after the first stop. No matter, instead I dropped by the Daniil Kharms plaque on Mayakovskaya to pay my respects, by which I mean little more than walking by, grinning, and leaving with a shrug. It seemed Kharmsian, anyways. Из дома вышел человек…

On a related note, near my bus stop somebody drove a car into a building. It seemed to have happened early in the morning, but nobody had seen anything. Most of the people standing around seemed only slightly amused. Our buses came, I didn’t investigate any further.

This evening, over pelmeni, Tamara Petrovna and I watched a talk show on the theme “love or generosity?” Except for several stubborn, and immediately villainized audience members, the former was the correct answer. One couple they interviewed consisted of an 80-something WWII vet and a 28 year old. Another was an amputee who met and fell in love with a professional dancer through an internet dating site. God bless. TP and I both got a little teary towards the end.

And speaking of saccharine, I pretty much can’t stop listening to the new Tegan and Sara album. I’m totally going soft.