River weekendJanuary 20–22, 2006 Friday-Saturday. −27°C. The VolgaThe village of Volgoverkhovie in the Ostashkovsky district of the Tver region was the first to come up with the idea of calling the local spring the headwaters of the Volga river. First-mover advantage.  These days no self-respecting river can flow without a cross next to it. The ménage à trois in the middle warrants special attention.  Source of the Volga If you spit into this dirty ditch your spit will rush all the way down to the Caspian. No point trying in the wintertime.  First bridge over the Volga Someone wanted to write a poem, but changed his mind after penning the first line. At the bottom it says “look back as you leave, not “have a blast as you leave”. What a pity. 
Traveller! In one of the local villages we found a magnificent window decoration made out of rockets and a star.  Sunday. −21°C. The YauzaOn my way there I witnessed a striking scene: a gust of wind lifted the bonnet of the Moskvitch to my right, completely covering its windshield. The driver regained his bearings, pulled into the kerb and went off to find some tape. Cars are always falling into the Yauza. I’ve read about these falls a thousand times (just type “car fell into Yauza” into your Yandex browser and see for yourself), I’ve seen the busted guard rail a thousand times. On my way back I saw it first hand for the very first time, on Poluyaroslavskaya embankment. 
 I am sure readers can imagine the sorts of things that are floating around in the Yauza, given that it doesn’t freeze over even at twenty degrees below freezing. The Opel driver landed on the only small ice island there was. The car that the Opel tried unsuccessfully to overtake on the left was right there. Next to it laid a flattened warning triangle. This shows that when a driver is faced with the choice of jumping into the river or ramming into another motorist, he will in fact choose the latter. I would venture to guess the fact that the Opel driver hadn’t washed his car windows for about two years played not small part in the turn of events. The Yauza alone won’t make your car windows this filthy.  About five minutes went by. Wee-oww, wee-oww, the cops had arrived. The rescue services’ four-wheel drive pulled up silently behind them. The emergency rescuer pulled on a diving suit and went into the water.  He got the guy out.  The cops led him away to their car.  Sergeevich! Make sure you don’t put him in my seat! The rescuer got one more guy out (the last one).  The onlookers began to disperse, warming their hands with their breath. 
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The other drivers drove off gingerly as they pondered the meaning of life. I came away with an image to add to my “Mixed bag of goodies”. |
The scene illustrating the sign 1.10 “Quayside ahead. Quayside or river bank ahead” occurred a few minutes up the road from where the sign itself comes into view, but rubberneckers were already lined up on riverbanks. There was someone in the passenger seat of the floating car, but I couldn’t see him from the side I was on. The people on the opposite bank were calling out something like, hang in there, mate, the divers are on their way. The guy was most probably too afraid to move a muscle, lest the car start filling up with water. All I could see was a gloved hand catching chunks of ice as they floated by.