Day 75

If you ever wonder whether economic sanctions could have an impact, I believe it depends on how much individuals are willing to endure. For nations it will be the suffering endured by the majority of the populous and how much grumbling can be kept under wraps by the leadership. Isaac Asimov wrote about an interesting perspective in Foundation. You might think this is pointing in the direction of comments on Russia given the events in Crimea; they certainly can withstand a cold shoulder from the rest of the world (barring China) for some time. I was actually thinking about Pyrex.

Today we purchased a load of Pyrex dishes from one of the supermarkets in Astana. Of course Pyrex is made in France and it made me wonder how much grumbling my life (and my wife?) would be if I couldn’t get access to Pyrex. Silly really. But actually trying to cook anything more elaborate than super noodles and suddenly you will miss having kitchen utensils and cookware if you could not get them in the country. So this is a roundabout way of me saying I am very happy that we managed to buy Pyrex dishes and very much looking forward to a roast at the weekend.

We also experienced refunds in Kazakhstan. Quite an elaborate process. I had to explain that my inline skates had a fault, showed them it, they attempted a repair and couldn’t. They offered a replacement and I tried to negotiate a better model and pay the difference. Well it all worked and thankfully the guy in the store spoke good enough English to translate to the store manager. And after 20 minutes of filling in various forms, showing them my passport and signing what I can only assume are the refund forms, I can expect the money to be credited to my card in 3 to 5 working days. This allowed me to purchase the new set of skates. So slightly different operation in Kazakhstan than the UK, but I believe it worked. And this is my long way of saying I am also the proud owner of some black and fluorescent yellow inline skates. Now all I need is some rainbow striped protective gear and shell suit to complete my outfit.

Ray