Talking with the Russians.
There has been a significant development in this project as preparation are made for my mosaics. Though I do not have a contract to make them yet? Yesterday I spent a day working on the site with a guy who when I asked his name replied with, ‘The Russian’! In fact the most of the groundworks team employed on the road and paving on this part of the site were Russian. My job was to locate the position of these mosaics, so the sub-bases can be prepared.
Russia, I’m told by new collegue was a far far better place before Gorbechov and Peristroica. People were content, well fed and wanted for nothing, times were good.
I spent a lot of my day talking with the Russian who explained things started to change under Gorbochov and later Yeltsin. A guy had knocked on the door of my new friends business (which was food distribution; I dont remember that being Russia’s strong suit. I thought best to keep that thought to myself.) He was asked if he had a contractor to repair the roof of his warehouse? He replied no…why? I dont need my roof repaired?
‘Yes you do and it will cost hundreds and hundreds of dollors or rubels we dont mind, and you will have to pay us this month, next month and every month from now on, for us to repair your roof….Got it! In the end at the dissolution of Soviet Union it seems my friend brought his family to the UK as things had gone from bad to worse and even worse.
He told me he had nothing at all when he arrived in the UK. His brother said, ‘I will send you two containers on a ship. Containers full of thousands of sheets of the finest quality plywood, you can sell it and when you have sold it give back 25%. My friend said, I cant speak English I have no where to store the wood, no lorries to distribute it and thanks but I can’t do this.
Another guy was from Moldova and left because of fighting and war during the transition to independance.
I enjoyed The Russian’s company and he explained there were plenty of fine mosaics in Armenia where he had lived.
