Snippets

• In a new guide to Azerbaijan, in the section on walking in Baku, the book cautions that the story of "the expat who fell through the manhole cover" is not an urban myth.
• Fur coats are coming out. Mink I guess, and oh dear seal?, and lots of sheepskin. I'm ready to go for sheepskin myself. The snow we had a coupe of weeks ago was apparetny quite unusa. Peope said they were going around in shirtseevs ast December.  I still need the sheep fur.
• In apartments that have radiators, the government controls the heat--turning it on November 15 and off April 15.
• Re: a man tending geraniums on a third floor balcony--who sees?  I do, and give him a smile and a thumbs up.
• In the Azerbajani language difficulties department,  I am finding the word order tough. Here is a sentence translated directly to Engish: 5th foor on three rooms apartment ours have.  And: I go+when [no space] you house+at [no space] not was there. Sigh.
• My small dictionary incudes the following ever-popular words: bomb-thrower, tang, wigwam and Zulu time.