Fun & winter games

The winter has arrived. Long, cold icy fingers have wrapped around Moscow while a schizophrenic snow falls down on the city, turning the streets to a watery slush. Frozen human spit sparkles on the ground like unpleasant diamonds in the hazy winter sun. The sickness season is with us in Moscow and with it comes cabin fever. When the long cold days arrive, most parents are stuck inside with only the four walls for company. Many people are sick with colds, flu and fevers, the medical clinics are busy.

My kid had bronchitis, which magically became laryngitis, (I'll explain below). We have been stuck inside all day, listening to his symphony of coughs, sniffs and whimpers. This sickness has been an ongoing thing for about a year now. We took our kid an allergy clinic that said it was an adenoid development problem but I begin to ask myself is it Moscow? We read on the Internet, that Moscow is an unhealthy city for children. When you visit the doctor, you go once for a diagnosis then return if its not better and have a blood test then return again to check that the symptoms have gone. So one condition or disease, can cost a lot of money with three or more visits. I believe the golden rule is when you have small kids that are snotty, never send them to school as it infects other children. Keep them at home and wait it out.

We go to one of the lesser known private medical clinics in Moscow, as we refuse to fill the pockets of medical criminals who legally print their own money via expatriate insurance payments. One of the big three private clinics here, change 150 Euro just for a consultation, excluding any blood tests (this price may have gone up?). A consultation plus blood tests at one of these clinics, can take the bill up to 500 Euro. I was told they charge 750 Euro for home doctors visit! I took my kid to the private Russian clinic that we use when the coughing started. It's a no frills clinic but usually delivers what you need as long as its not too complicated a medical issue beyond popular illnesses that inflict most of us. We saw a child doctor who made us get a blood test and an X-Ray and told us it was Bronchitis. Later in the day at home, our normally happy child had a bad coughing attack and seemed to be chocking, so we called out a doctor from another medical centre. We were told this doctors name and were recommended her for emergencies. She arrived promptly at our flat and within in moments said it was Laryngitis, she gave an injection and we put our sick angle to bed, by the next day our kid was a lot better. She charged us just 100 Euro for her visit, rather than 750 Euro.

I am convinced that all these clinics regardless of their quality, have got some kind of agreement with pharmaceutical suppliers, as whenever I go to the clinic, I leave with armfuls of drugs that are always exactly the same as before. My bathroom cupboard is bursting with drops, spays and syrups, all Russian brands. I now keep them all and when my family gets sick, I just use the ones I was given before. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't work. The clinic we use in Moscow, change 30 Euro for a consultation and not a 150 Euro and is a bargain by Moscow standards.

It's not all so easy and fun being a stay at home dad. I have my daily domestic routine and daily childcare duties to follow and I follow them religiously, like a Franciscan monk. A sick child, can push your nerves and strength to the end and this week has been my toughest period yet so far in Moscow. My wife arrives home from work exhausted after trying to reach bull shit, pointless targets in an understaffed, poorly run organization. She gets home late feeling exhausted and finds her dinner ready on the table. She eats her tin of cold baked beans, while our kid plays with the hairdryer in the shower and I watch the football on TV. Of course this is not totally true, I do actually take the beans out of the tin, I'm not a total slob. I'm an excellent, lover, cook and an all round superhero. When your kid is well and happy, everything is fine within the happy home of stay at home dads or mums.

They changed the winter times here in Moscow. Now it's not light when you wake up in the winter mornings but gets light at around 8.30 am. Trying to wake up from a nocturnal coma, when it's dark outside, takes some getting used to. On the positive side, it's light till around 6 pm in the evenings and so it feels less oppressive. Although the days are cold and the sky is often gray, the winter brings with it a crisp freshness. A snow covered Moscow, softens the hard concrete landscape, making it a better place to be than in the hot airless armpit summers. Winter can begin from around about November to January and lasts till April or even May. Everything works as usual, despite heavy snow. The roads are cleared and the snow is cleared by men from Tajikistan and other far away regions who earn small peanuts for their hard, degrading work. They come to Moscow for work and keep the city running, without them, Moscow would stop and would become a giant trash can. In the summer, they paint fences, they sweep leaves, and pick the streets clean like Gleaning birds on water buffalo's ass. If it were the United Kingdom in snow, the country would stop, game over. We could learn lessons from the Russians in winter and street management. The difference between these economic migrants in Moscow and our own back home, is that in the United Kingdom, (with exception to Polish job seekers), they arrive in London and take unemployment benefit, rather than actually physically work.

The seasons change quickly here, one weeks its summer, the next its Autumn and the next it's winter.We will continue to cough and splutter, we will take our nose drops, spays, ointments and tablets and hope we can get rid of the winter sickness as Christmas will soon be here and it will be our 3rd in the motherland.

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