Part 10: Russian Hospital

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If you are going to collapse, or call in an emergency, make sure you are in the city center.
The hospitals outside the zone 2 border are like something from an eighties war movie.
The building's are in need of a refurbishment.
Drastically.

To find doctors or specialists is a maze of doors (often involving you to drive to the other side of town, get some old yellow piece of paper from another doctor, then return back to your first doctor), which leads you with the belief that little has actually been resolved.
Paperwork is done in such a horridly-antiquated way that you wonder if they've ever heard of 'windows' or 'Apple' in the electronic context. The system is outdated, and it's what makes Europe a power force forward in the medical sector.
I half expected the doctor to pull out a jar of leeches their system is so old.
The full force hit me when we took my wife to one of these so-called hospitals. People who had just been operated on we're lying in beds in the hallway. The rooms themselves didn't take less than three people. Nurses were susceptible to bribes for better conditions. According to law they get paid more money if they can keep you in this bed for longer than 5 days. The nurses were taking blood, but forgetting to test for certain conditions, meaning they would only test again the next day, at their convenience.
Whoops.
This isn't healthcare. It's opportunism in its most evil form.
My wife was being checked for a simple procedure, but in the room opposite her was a woman dying, and across from that a girl having an abortion, and across from that a woman about to give birth.
It was a circus.
The meal was grits, potato and water.
The toilet door didn't lock and there was no toilet paper.
The hospital bed's mattress was showing signs of (hopefully) old, dried blood.
When my wife asked for hot water for some green tea they denied her.
After day three of this hell, I kidnapped her, and took her home where she genuinely recovered.
I wouldn't wish this hell on anyone.
It made the NHS (which I always used to grumble about) seem like the Ritz Carlton.
My advice; if you’re sick or hurt in Russia… don’t go to hospital.

Check out my books here: www.jamesbrough.com

Part 9: The Weather

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I was born in England. Not exactly forged in snow (as I was born in July) but I had a strong self-belief of being able to withstand the cold.
I was wrong.
In my heart's core I'm a southern boy. Give me an African coast. Give me Florida heat.
Moscow has the extremes; albeit a short summer, it's worth seeing. And experiencing. There are some awesome little fake beaches about Moscow with pools and loungers. There's even the tropical bar setting to drink beer and pass out in the sun.
Not many people know this, but Russia fires chemicals into the air on special days to ensure it doesn't rain (can you say damage to the environment?). The chemicals would go great hand in hand with car methane emissions.
The heat is so much that the roads must be sprayed with water so the tar doesn't melt.
The two weeks of autumn can be some of the most beautiful settings in Russia. Orange, purple and red leaves as though a painting has jumped out of the canvas. The only complaint is the cotton trees; the balls of fluff nearly choking you to death down every second street corner. Apparently Stalin had something to do with this.
Spring is a torrent of rain rivaling that of what I've witnessed in Africa and Florida. Thunderstorms that make you drenched in seconds. Lightning that makes you paranoid enough to switch off all your electronics.
The winter on the other hand...

Prepare for 6 months of isolation.
I have a running gag with friends involving the Game of Thrones quote "winter is coming." Rumours are that this is what vodka was invented for. Moscow's drop (or should I say "plunge") in temperature is so sudden that it causes severe headaches. True story. My wife and I woke up one night almost screaming from the pain as the pressure squashed our brains.
Living all over the world I've experienced a lot of weather, but nothing like this. The weather is so bad it gives you a headache? Come on! Really? Prepare for your lungs and face to ache in the cold, but when it's over you'll say "that wasn't so bad."

Check out my books here: www.jamesbrough.com