06 July 2008: A Walk in the Rain

An odd thing happened today. I was on the computer in my room when Irina came by and knocked. She came in, saw that I was on the computer and adopted a disapproving glare. “Who told you you could go on the computer?” she demanded. My brain sort of went *splutter, stammer . . . what?* Um, well, you did, sort of, when you told me repeatedly over the first few weeks to make myself at home, and when you encourage me to write e-mails to my family (which, incidentally, I was in the process of doing when she came in.) “You need to get off, now.”
“Oh, okay, I’ll just finish . . .”
“No. Right now.”
“Oh. Okay.” And I started shutting down programs.“You need to ask before you use the computer. [Insert things I didn’t really understand. I think it had something to do with the computer being old, which it certainly was, and not wanting to overwork it and how it was just for her and Maxim, or something.] Are you shutting it down?”
“Yes, I am, right now.”
She left the room, and as she was on her way out the front door she called back one more time, “Shut it off, Andrew.” And then she was off. Now, I can understand if she didn’t want to overwork her ancient computer, but it was still a bit abrupt, I thought. Oh well, on with the day.

I decided I’d spent quite too much time in the apartment over the weekend, so I went for a walk in the rain. There is a second well-known statue of Peter the Great that I hadn’t seen yet, so I wandered to the Mikhailovsky Castle where it stands. Peter stands as a Caesar on a gigantic, stately pedestal, quite the contrast to the rambunctious rendition of Falconay.



Remember, Mikhailovsky Castle was the home of short-lived Emperor Paul I? I wandered into the central courtyard of the castle where I found this sad little statue of the emperor. He looks so shrunken and timid, like he’s paranoid of being bludgeoned at any moment, for good reason.









After that I went across the river to the Summer Gardens, my favorite place in St. Petersburg. It was mostly empty because of the rain. I found myself a nice bench and took a seat. Snug under my umbrella, I passed the afternoon reading Crime and Punishment. I doubt you can get much moodier (pronounced: “Russian”) than that. If only I had a bottle of vodka to drown away my sorrows.