Woke up this morning with "Giroflé, girofla" by Yves Montand playing in my head. It was strange because it came out of the blue, I'd last heard the song at least five years ago. That's why I thought its sudden reappearance must have some significance. So I googled "Yves Montand Soviet Union" and came across this interesting passage (from IMDB):
"Toured as a jazz singer in the Soviet Union in 1956 and in 1963, and met with Nikita Khrushchev. Became critical of the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, then made a movie about socialist dictatorship."
Perhaps Maksim listened to one of Montand's concerts on the radio; if the announcer hadn't translated the lyrics, Lyoshka would have been able to do that for Maksim and his friends. Perhaps one of the songs that were performed was "Giroflé, girofla"...
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Saying hello to Vadim
This flashback came to me when I discovered there was a hole in my exhaust pipe and I wondered if I'd be able to mend it without a pit or hydraulic ramp. (Haven't found the hole yet since it was too dark, tomorrow morning will be a better time for such tasks.)
In the flashback, Maksim is wandering across the factory grounds; he isn't due for a delivery yet, maybe there has been a delay or he arrived abit earlier. He strays into the workshop, where Vadim (now I definitely know that he worked as a mechanic in the factory Maksim drove for) is standing in a pit, banging away at the front brake of a smaller truck with a hammer. The tiles in the workshop are a grubby beige, and it smells of oil, brake fluid and antifreeze, a smell Maksim has come to love because he loves his job so much.
Vadim can't hear him as he is banging at the brake and swearing because it won't come off, and Maksim grins to himself at Vadim's choice of words, thinking that Natasha would give him one of her hard looks if she heard him. But of course there are tasks that require a lot of swearing, and trying to loosen a stuck brake definitely is one of them!
Maksim tiptoes to the pit, picking up a heavy screw-nut that is lying around, grimy with oil and dust. He drops the screw-nut behind Vadim's back; it hits the ground with a loud "plonk" and Maksim jumps back, yelling "Watch out! It's coming down!" Vadim jumps, dropping the hammer, and as he sees his brother-in-law the startled look in his face turns into a mock scowl. He growls "You prick, you nearly scared me to death", then scrunches up an oily rag that is lying at the edge of the pit (he has used it to wipe his oily hands) and throws it at Maksim. He climbs out of the pit, saying "I should have know that it was you by the stink", the he pats Maksim on the back and says something else I can't "hear".
In the flashback, Maksim is wandering across the factory grounds; he isn't due for a delivery yet, maybe there has been a delay or he arrived abit earlier. He strays into the workshop, where Vadim (now I definitely know that he worked as a mechanic in the factory Maksim drove for) is standing in a pit, banging away at the front brake of a smaller truck with a hammer. The tiles in the workshop are a grubby beige, and it smells of oil, brake fluid and antifreeze, a smell Maksim has come to love because he loves his job so much.
Vadim can't hear him as he is banging at the brake and swearing because it won't come off, and Maksim grins to himself at Vadim's choice of words, thinking that Natasha would give him one of her hard looks if she heard him. But of course there are tasks that require a lot of swearing, and trying to loosen a stuck brake definitely is one of them!
Maksim tiptoes to the pit, picking up a heavy screw-nut that is lying around, grimy with oil and dust. He drops the screw-nut behind Vadim's back; it hits the ground with a loud "plonk" and Maksim jumps back, yelling "Watch out! It's coming down!" Vadim jumps, dropping the hammer, and as he sees his brother-in-law the startled look in his face turns into a mock scowl. He growls "You prick, you nearly scared me to death", then scrunches up an oily rag that is lying at the edge of the pit (he has used it to wipe his oily hands) and throws it at Maksim. He climbs out of the pit, saying "I should have know that it was you by the stink", the he pats Maksim on the back and says something else I can't "hear".
Friday, October 16, 2009
A little football game
This was triggered by the sight of this fenced-off, empty plot which I saw while driving to a client.The sight took me back to a similar empty plot in Chelyabinsk (perhaps in that area which later became Gagarin Park). Maksim is still rather young, between twelve and fourteen perhaps.
He and Vadim are strolling towards this empty plot, and Vadim is carrying a brown leather football under his arm. He has noted that Maksim was a bit downcast, so he has decided to play with him in order to cheer him up.
It is a sunny but chilly day, the air feels crisp and clear and the sun is still rather strong, even though you can feel that winter isn't so far away. They put down their coats to mark the goal, and Vadim starts dribbling the ball while Maksim tries to get the ball under his control. At first Maksim lacks enthusiasm, but Vadim encourages him by shouting: "Come on, little warrior! You can do better than that!" He doesn't make things too easy for Maksim, but sometimes he makes deliberate "mistakes" that allow Maksim to get the ball and score a goal. They play for about one hour and a half, and at the end they are sweating and red-faced but happy.
Vadim pats Maksim on the shoulder as they put on their sweaters again, then he buys a bag of sunflower seeds from a street vendor and they eat the seeds as they walk home. Vadim, whose own boyhood doesn't lie that far behind, has enjoyed himself as much as his little brother-in-law, perhaps he, too, could use the distraction and the workout...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Fragments
Some brief flashbacks and fragments that I still thought worth recording:
During the war, Maksim, his mother and sister once survived by digging up frozen turnips from an abandoned field outside the city and boiling them; the result was terrible, but at least it filled the stomach for a while and made them feel at least a bit warm.
Another one - I have the feeling Vadim once owned a kind of scooter or small motorbike, a very old and rickety one that he repaired and traded in for something else. But I know no further details about this.
Once someone approached Maksim as he was walking across the yard between his block of flats and the neighbouring one (I think he was coming back from work), and handed him a parcel in a paper bag, saying "Give this to your brother-in-law, with thanks from (name)". Maksim thanked the man, then walked on feeling the packet and wondering what was in it. He bent to smell it and noticed that it contained coffee - good, fragrant coffee, undoubtedly acquired from the black market!
During the war, Maksim, his mother and sister once survived by digging up frozen turnips from an abandoned field outside the city and boiling them; the result was terrible, but at least it filled the stomach for a while and made them feel at least a bit warm.
Another one - I have the feeling Vadim once owned a kind of scooter or small motorbike, a very old and rickety one that he repaired and traded in for something else. But I know no further details about this.
Once someone approached Maksim as he was walking across the yard between his block of flats and the neighbouring one (I think he was coming back from work), and handed him a parcel in a paper bag, saying "Give this to your brother-in-law, with thanks from (name)". Maksim thanked the man, then walked on feeling the packet and wondering what was in it. He bent to smell it and noticed that it contained coffee - good, fragrant coffee, undoubtedly acquired from the black market!
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Two memories, a happy one and a sad one
These two memories occured within the space of two days; I think the sad one was triggered by the cold weather we've had recently. The happy one came first, so it shall be the first to be written down.
This memory was brought on by the song Песня о Щорсе (Song of Shtshors), a 1940s song about an officer named Shtshors who had fought on the "right" side in the civil war. It was in a huge collection of songs Maksim would have known, sent to me by a Russian friend.
Maksim's best friend Yurotchka, who had decided to become a soldier and attend a military academy in Moscow, had come home on leave with good news - he had been promoted, to lieutenant, I think. So Maksim, Vadim and the rest of the gang decided that this needed to be celebrated, so they bought the necessary provisions and met, it seems to me, in the flat Yurotchka and his mother lived in.
They ate and drank and had a lot of fun, and as the celebration wore on, Maksim and Vadim suddenly decided that their nearly-promoted friend should be honoured by a song. They adapted the "Song of Shtshors" so that it fit Yurotchka - brave Lieutenant Shumik (Shumik was Yurotchka's surname) marched not under the red banner, as Shtshors had done, but under a vodka bottle, and it was not Shtshors' red banner that flew in the wind in their version of the song, but a certain body part of newly-appointed Lieutenant Shumik; I won't go into detail as there might be minors reading, but I think the adults among my readers are familiar with drunken instant poetry and get the picture :-)
It was a nice evening, everybody had a lot of fun - though I suspect that the next morning wasn't too nice for the participants. :-)
The other memory is set in about 1945 or 1946; can't place it exactly, but it must be before 1948, since that is the year in which Maksim's mother died. It was the cold, chilly weather that brought on that memory, since it is set on a cold, unpleasant summer or early winter day. It is icy in the room Maksim shares with his mother and his sister Natasha; I think the room is part of the flat in which his friend Yurotchka's mother, also a soldier's widow, lived with her son (there may have been a sister as well, but I'm not sure). It is in an old house with high stucco ceilings, but everything is shabby and run down, due to the hard times the country is going through.
Natasha, then about twelve, is sitting at the small, rickety white table, doing her homework (they felt it was important to keep up at least a kind of normality, keeping school at least helped the children a bit since it took their minds off the situation at least for a while).
They are all wearing their warmest winter clothes, since there is no heating at the moment and what little wood or coal they have must be used for cooking, not for heating. Maksim complains: "Mummy, I'm so cold" and Natasha pulls him onto her lap, puts a pencil in his hand and says "Come on, Maksimka, I'll teach you to write", then she guides his hand, teaching him to write "Mama" and "Maksim" and "Natasha", hoping that it will distract her little brother at least for a while.
That flashback touched me very deeply emotionally, as it was so full of the tenderness and love the three felt for each other, despite the hopelessness of the situation. I don't know if Maksim noticed at the time, but as I saw this vision I noticed that their mother was in very bad shape already, looking gaunt and sickly. Perhaps she was already suffering from the TB that finally cost her life; she always made sure that her children had enough to eat, even though that meant she sometimes went hungry. She was such a kind and caring soul...
This memory was brought on by the song Песня о Щорсе (Song of Shtshors), a 1940s song about an officer named Shtshors who had fought on the "right" side in the civil war. It was in a huge collection of songs Maksim would have known, sent to me by a Russian friend.
Maksim's best friend Yurotchka, who had decided to become a soldier and attend a military academy in Moscow, had come home on leave with good news - he had been promoted, to lieutenant, I think. So Maksim, Vadim and the rest of the gang decided that this needed to be celebrated, so they bought the necessary provisions and met, it seems to me, in the flat Yurotchka and his mother lived in.
They ate and drank and had a lot of fun, and as the celebration wore on, Maksim and Vadim suddenly decided that their nearly-promoted friend should be honoured by a song. They adapted the "Song of Shtshors" so that it fit Yurotchka - brave Lieutenant Shumik (Shumik was Yurotchka's surname) marched not under the red banner, as Shtshors had done, but under a vodka bottle, and it was not Shtshors' red banner that flew in the wind in their version of the song, but a certain body part of newly-appointed Lieutenant Shumik; I won't go into detail as there might be minors reading, but I think the adults among my readers are familiar with drunken instant poetry and get the picture :-)
It was a nice evening, everybody had a lot of fun - though I suspect that the next morning wasn't too nice for the participants. :-)
The other memory is set in about 1945 or 1946; can't place it exactly, but it must be before 1948, since that is the year in which Maksim's mother died. It was the cold, chilly weather that brought on that memory, since it is set on a cold, unpleasant summer or early winter day. It is icy in the room Maksim shares with his mother and his sister Natasha; I think the room is part of the flat in which his friend Yurotchka's mother, also a soldier's widow, lived with her son (there may have been a sister as well, but I'm not sure). It is in an old house with high stucco ceilings, but everything is shabby and run down, due to the hard times the country is going through.
Natasha, then about twelve, is sitting at the small, rickety white table, doing her homework (they felt it was important to keep up at least a kind of normality, keeping school at least helped the children a bit since it took their minds off the situation at least for a while).
They are all wearing their warmest winter clothes, since there is no heating at the moment and what little wood or coal they have must be used for cooking, not for heating. Maksim complains: "Mummy, I'm so cold" and Natasha pulls him onto her lap, puts a pencil in his hand and says "Come on, Maksimka, I'll teach you to write", then she guides his hand, teaching him to write "Mama" and "Maksim" and "Natasha", hoping that it will distract her little brother at least for a while.
That flashback touched me very deeply emotionally, as it was so full of the tenderness and love the three felt for each other, despite the hopelessness of the situation. I don't know if Maksim noticed at the time, but as I saw this vision I noticed that their mother was in very bad shape already, looking gaunt and sickly. Perhaps she was already suffering from the TB that finally cost her life; she always made sure that her children had enough to eat, even though that meant she sometimes went hungry. She was such a kind and caring soul...
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Lyoshka cooks
I had this flashback while making some roast potatoes for dinner last night - it was set during the time when Maksim was 13 or 14, the time when his brother-in-law's friend Lyoshka still lived with them after he had been released from the GULAG.
It is early afternoon, about 3 PM perhaps, and Maksim is coming home from school. As he unlocks the door of their flat (he always wears the key around his neck on a piece of string) he smells roast potatoes, and as he takes off his shoes and coat in the corridor, he hears a scraping noise, as if someone is turning something in the pan with a wooden spoon.
He puts on his slippers and peeks into the kitchen, where Lyoshka is standing at the stove, making roast potatoes with egg. Lyoshka is wearing a light blue shirt, a knitted vest over it, and brown trousers that are far too large for him. He has stuffed a tea towel into the waistband of his trousers to protect them from grease, and he has that far-away, dreamy look on his face that he often has. Perhaps he is thinking of something nice, or he is composing a new poem (Lyoshka was not only a skilled chess player, but also a quite talented amateur poet). When he sees Maksim, he looks up, smiles and says, "Ah, Maksimka. How was your day?" Maksim replies "Fine" and bends over the pan to sniff at the food. Lyoshka pretends to smack him on the nose with the wooden spoon, and then both look at each other and giggle.
It will still be some time until Vadim and Natasha come home, so Maksim sits down as Lyoshka serves him some food, then Lyoshka puts some on his own plate and sits down facing Maksim, and both begin to eat. Lyoshka usually did the cooking and cleaning while he was staying with his friends and looking for work and a place to live, and it was his way of making up for their help and kindness.
It is early afternoon, about 3 PM perhaps, and Maksim is coming home from school. As he unlocks the door of their flat (he always wears the key around his neck on a piece of string) he smells roast potatoes, and as he takes off his shoes and coat in the corridor, he hears a scraping noise, as if someone is turning something in the pan with a wooden spoon.
He puts on his slippers and peeks into the kitchen, where Lyoshka is standing at the stove, making roast potatoes with egg. Lyoshka is wearing a light blue shirt, a knitted vest over it, and brown trousers that are far too large for him. He has stuffed a tea towel into the waistband of his trousers to protect them from grease, and he has that far-away, dreamy look on his face that he often has. Perhaps he is thinking of something nice, or he is composing a new poem (Lyoshka was not only a skilled chess player, but also a quite talented amateur poet). When he sees Maksim, he looks up, smiles and says, "Ah, Maksimka. How was your day?" Maksim replies "Fine" and bends over the pan to sniff at the food. Lyoshka pretends to smack him on the nose with the wooden spoon, and then both look at each other and giggle.
It will still be some time until Vadim and Natasha come home, so Maksim sits down as Lyoshka serves him some food, then Lyoshka puts some on his own plate and sits down facing Maksim, and both begin to eat. Lyoshka usually did the cooking and cleaning while he was staying with his friends and looking for work and a place to live, and it was his way of making up for their help and kindness.
Monday, September 21, 2009
A tiny memory of Maksim's mother
This was triggered by an unexpected nicety - my Russian teacher gave me a lovely pencil case in my favourite colour, dark blue. I thought that was lovely of her, and when she said "seeing you with that old pencil case makes my heart bleed" (there was just an ink stain on it), that triggered another flashback.
In the post-war years times were very hard, not only for Maksim's family but also for many other people. Food and clothing was scarce, and often there was no heating in winter. However, for Maksim's mother it was very important that her children had everything they needed and that their school things were in a good condition. She would rather go hungry (telling Natasha and Maksim that she'd already eaten or that she wasn't hungry) than allow herself to let her children be ragged and hungry. She had such a good heart; it's a shame that she had to die so young, and so painfully!
In the post-war years times were very hard, not only for Maksim's family but also for many other people. Food and clothing was scarce, and often there was no heating in winter. However, for Maksim's mother it was very important that her children had everything they needed and that their school things were in a good condition. She would rather go hungry (telling Natasha and Maksim that she'd already eaten or that she wasn't hungry) than allow herself to let her children be ragged and hungry. She had such a good heart; it's a shame that she had to die so young, and so painfully!
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