It’s been raining non-stop for a week in Moscow; cold and windy, and our fall clothes are stuck somewhere in Riga. People around me are dropping like flies with a cold, and the inside of my nose is feeling funny already. The common cold has nothing to do with temperature or humidity. The whole legend of catching a cold is one of the best examples of false causation. What happens is – people spend more time indoors, and do not open their windows for fresh air and sun – this spreads the virus faster and keeps more of it alive. However cold and humid air does not cause the common cold. The very word for “cold” as a disease is a misnomer. It is another virus, different from the flu virus, but still a virus.
Grim Moscow pigeons sit on the roofs and wires, obviously unaware of shelter as a concept. Nothing goes on through their little stupid heads. Oh, wait, why are we outside, too, if we’re so smart? May be pigeons have their own purpose. Maybe they are trying to kill the flu virus by sitting on the roofs in rain. Perhaps there is a covenant of non-sheltering pigeons trying to prove to their gods how tough they are. What if their sitting on the roofs is an art performance?
Svetlana and I went to see a contemporary arts show in the Manège. OK, she dragged me to see it. It was actually very cool with many video installation pieces. The most surprising was the fact that there were several hundred other people trudging through the rain to get there; mostly younger, hip, artsy crowd. I like them; I like the whole younger generation of Russian urbanites. Not scared and scarred in their childhood by Soviet daycare staff, these people look and behave like any young artsy crowd in any of the world capitals. Some bring their children, some are still working on it by kissing, rain or shine. Good luck and a little bit of Indian summer to all: people, pigeons, artists, and children.
Grim Moscow pigeons sit on the roofs and wires, obviously unaware of shelter as a concept. Nothing goes on through their little stupid heads. Oh, wait, why are we outside, too, if we’re so smart? May be pigeons have their own purpose. Maybe they are trying to kill the flu virus by sitting on the roofs in rain. Perhaps there is a covenant of non-sheltering pigeons trying to prove to their gods how tough they are. What if their sitting on the roofs is an art performance?
Svetlana and I went to see a contemporary arts show in the Manège. OK, she dragged me to see it. It was actually very cool with many video installation pieces. The most surprising was the fact that there were several hundred other people trudging through the rain to get there; mostly younger, hip, artsy crowd. I like them; I like the whole younger generation of Russian urbanites. Not scared and scarred in their childhood by Soviet daycare staff, these people look and behave like any young artsy crowd in any of the world capitals. Some bring their children, some are still working on it by kissing, rain or shine. Good luck and a little bit of Indian summer to all: people, pigeons, artists, and children.
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