Russian bureaucracy

At the railway station we encountered for the first time and only time on our trip the infamous Russian bureaucracy. We were trying to organise and book a trip on the circum-Baikal railway. Visiting first a desk in a first floor hall painted in the most delicate shade of lime green (the Russians seem to be very fond of brightly coloured buildings both inside and out), we were passed from desk to desk by a series of unsmiling and unhelpful female clerks. We were given telephone numbers that did not work; we were referred back to a desk we had already been turned away from. It was the classic bureaucratic runaround.  

The only option was retreat to the city centre by tram. We found another travel agency, and in minutes Josie had negotiated purchase of a paper ticket entitling us to join a circum-Baikal railway tour on the Friday - the day after tomorrow. This could not have been accomplished without Josie, for the matter was conducted almost entirely in Russian.

At this point an aside on Michael Bohm's "The Russian Specific" is called for. This book is proving to be rivetting reading. It is an expose or candid description of the post-Soviet Russian psyche, written for business people proposing to work in Russia, and as such it is absolutely fascinating. For me as a libertarian, an individualist and a firm believer in personal responsibility, it makes for appalling reading. It could make me a Russophobe.