The Butt Ugly Weblog

Bleargh^2

Still got the flu. It is apparently some virus infection that is rampaging across Helsinki right now, and the only thing you can really do is to rest and drink plenty of fluids.

So I am at home now, trying to think of ways to rest, after an unsuccessful attempt to apply for a visa to Russia:

- "Hello, I'm..."

- "Sorry, no room. I have many people applying for visa. Wait here", the helpful guard at the Russian embassy says. So I sit outside, shivering despite the sun. After a while, a bunch of russian-speaking people arrive, and ring the doorbell. The guard comes to the gate, and chat with them for a while, and then lets them in. I try to slip in behind them, but:

- "Sorry! Wait!"

So I sit some more. After about 15 minutes, the guard comes back out, and again, very helpfully says:

- "Closed! Come back tomorrow."

So I will go back tomorrow. At least I do now have the application forms, which the guard gave me after a brief negotiation.

So, this was really my first encounter with Russian bureucracy. Not something that you really look forward to when your head spins, your nose runs, and you are so tired you consistently misread "remove" as "replace". (Don't ask.)

But something good has come out of this, though: I've managed to watch a few movies on the backlog, and I also dug my old Amiga from the back of the cupboard, where it had been since I moved to this apartment. Now it's happily copying all sorts of personal data that was on the verge of destruction to my Linux box...