I implied that by the time when I was growing up® no elaborate displays or advertisements were necessary, items appeared in stores sporadically and people swept them off the shelves. Even everyday groceries like bread and milk frequently required standing in line. Any imported clothes, perfume, shoes, and even toys had the lines snaking out of the door and around the block. Supplies depended on the city; Moscow where the government was located and frequently visited by foreigners was known for its well stocked stores with items that were never seen elsewhere. People from surrounding areas were making long-distance shopping trips to Moscow to stock up on food and imported hard-to-find retail goods. Those who lived too far from Moscow had to either know someone in retail or pay black market prices.
In the early 80’s standing in line was pretty much the norm of life. Once I was walking home from school in the 4th or 5th grade when I noticed a huge line to the kiosk selling mandarins. Mandarins were a rare find, available only in winter. I didn’t have any money with me so I got a spot in line and had a number scribbled on my hand to verify my place. Then I went home, got the money and was back before too long. By then the people were worried that the mandarins will run out and people in the back of the line would have to leave empty-handed. I showed my number and got back in line, although some people where not too happy that I came back. Even with me running home I still had to stand in line for several hours. Not sure if I wanted the mandarins so badly or just didn’t want to leave half-way to the end of the line. Somehow I remember this one night and tell this story often, and, of course, I am eating a mandarin as I type this.
The reason I remember standing in line that night is that I wasn’t exposed to shopping very often. My parents did their share of waiting in lines or found other ways of getting stuff they needed like farmer’s market for foods which weren’t that cheap or black market for other things. Knowing someone in retail or grocery store was a goldmine. These people knew when the deliveries were scheduled and could hold on to an item for their friends, relatives and people who were willing to overpay. There was also barter going on, a retail employee would trade a favor with a doctor who could in turn try to find a rare medicine, or an auto mechanic who had access to hard-to-procure spare parts. Trading favors and black market led to some items never appearing in the front of the stores for general public, they were gone as soon as the delivery truck left the dock.
And now for some photos. Unfortunately not too many people had a bright idea to photograph the lines and empty stores; in some cases it could be interpreted as some anti-Soviet activity. Many photos floating around the internet are taken from here and I found a few more elsewhere.
Clothing store line.Stores usually closed for one hour lunch break. People are waiting for the store to open.Line in the produce storeLine to buy shoes, probably imported. Soviet shoes were ugly, heavy and uncomfortable.Another line.People are looking at the meager selection at the meat storePeople in line always worried that the stuff will run out and the time will be wasted.People are forming a line in anticipation of delivery. Many times it never happened.If a delivery did occur, pushing and shoving was not uncommon. Sometimes there were fights but not very often.Another lineMeat?Buy lingerie first then see if it fits.Not so fast foodNo commentBread lineLiquor storeEmpty shelvesLiquor store inside viewUnwanted items
When people think socialism, they often have these images in mind, but in all truth this has nothing to do with socialism; this was the result of many years of corrupt power, terror, breeding out competition, trying to force rules and principles on people that were going against common sense and human nature. Labels applied to what was built in the USSR are irrelevant; was it communism, socialism or just a big lie – what difference does it make. The only thing that matters is learning something from this experience. Then the years the Soviet people spent standing in various lines would account for something.
My kid gets annoyed when I walk out of a store or a restaurant when I see too many people waiting in line. I tell her that all the time in my life that was allocated for standing in lines has been used up already and I have little patience for waiting in one.
My Momma always said: Topeka is like a box of CrackerJack… sorry, wrong post…
For a long time I had in mind to climb to the top of the Kansas State Capitol and take a good bird’s-eye look at the great state of Kansas where the Capitol just happened to be located.
One good thing about our state’s capital is meetings. There was some kind of meeting about clean air and stuff.
To have a good meeting you always need:
Old ladies with signs and canes.
Cute chicks.
Women-voters (with an occasional stray man holding on to the sign).
A fat kid with the sign about what he wants to be when he grows up.
A union guy who hasn’t done any work in the past 20 years.
A bike-riding hippie with dreadlocks.
And a fat dude wearing an apocalyptic t-shirt.
I don’t recycle and I don’t want to die so we moved on to the next death threat.
Inside the capitol we got busy climbing 296 steps to the top.
The internal dome looks like this from the outside.
The legend is:if you make a wish inside the dome it will come true. But it doesn’t always work.
From the top you can check if your car didn’t get towed.
Meeting participants were still lingering on, checking the air quality after the meeting.
Inside, a group of people lined up for a photo-op in a mutually uncomfortable formation (because normal people are listening to the speech facing the speaker).
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_r2o8_8Yso
That’s the inner dome from the inside.
The truth truck was right – governor must have perished, good thing I didn’t flip them off.
Visit Topeka!
Recently your generosity helped finance some worthwhile and other projects. Your giving hearts and open wallets gave a much-needed hand-up to several budding entrepreneurs so they can continue to make this city better, funner, more exciting place to live.
This is why I find it appropriate to ask you once again for a small donation. I am not asking for myself, I am asking for all of us. We all know that Kansas City is one pig truck away from the big leagues.
With the pig truck cruising our streets and highways we will finally join the ranks of trend-setting metropolises such as Seattle, Los Angeles, Chicago and, dare I say it, Omaha. With the pig truck of our own, you will finally be able to proudly say: “I am from Kansas City” without having to listen to the laundry list of the things we don’t have from Trader Joe’s to the In-N-Out.
Isn’t pride worth just a few of your dollars? How much do you love your city? Donating money to the pig truck fund is like stuffing dollar bills into a stripper’s thong so she can graduate from the law school and finally take her rightful place in the society – doing the same thing but with the clothes on.
But wait, there is more. Unlike some other cities where a similar pig truck may exist, the Kansas City version will not be serving food. I will be just driving it around town. This will make it the first ever ironic food truck, leaving the other cities in the junk pile of backwardness and unhipness.
Here is how this is going to work: every donation will be rewarded.
Less than $10 – you will be allowed to wash the truck on the first-come-first-served basis.
$10-$50 – unlimited photos in front of the truck for you and your friends. (photos not included)
$50-$100 – you will be allowed to climb on/in the snout area and take a photo. (photos and liability not included)
$100-$1,000 – one ride to/from work limited to 25 miles for you and 5 of your friends and family members. 2 honks oinks will be allowed during the ride at the time of your choosing.
$1,000-$10,000 – one 50-mile round-trip to the location of your choice, pictures, truck-wash and unlimited use of the honk oink.
$50,000 – you will be given full use of the vehicle for one (1) night with no driving privileges. You will receive “We Did It Piggy-Style” framed certificate upon emerging from the truck. Your future child will appreciate an autographed framed photo of you in front of the truck with the caption “You were conceived in a pig”. (condoms, STD treatments and liability not included. Maximum 3 persons.)
Other prized can be arranged.
Only your generosity can save the future and the prestige of this city. Your dollars will propel us ahead of all the places who now have the audacity to look down on us.
Send your donations:
c/o #kcpigmobile to the email address on this site.
For the longest time a trip to Argentina has occupied the top spot on my imaginarybucketlist, patiently waiting for its time. Talking about my dream to visit Argentina became such a part of my life that after finally getting it done, I might be at a loss of subjects to discuss in a polite conversation. In any case, the trip and the country of Argentina turned out to be everything I imagined it to be and much more, and became the longest, the most expensive and the best trip of my adult life.
KDOT’s recently completed construction of the 75th Street collector-distributor exit ramp lane did not alleviate traffic backups that predictably occur in that area during the rush-hour at least twice a day. Anyone who drives on I35 with any regularity would’ve predicted that before any concrete was poured into that project. Traffic jams occur not because people are trying to exit on the 75th st; they are caused by an inflow of morons merging into the traffic and immediately attempting to reach the left lane so they don’t miss their exit to I635 several miles later.
Luckily there is a silver lining and the said lining can only be found on this blog, well-known for its optimism and positiveness. While the project completely failed in its original intent, KDOT has unintentionally created the first ever express lane in the Kansas City Metro Area.
On this video (made by an extremely unidentified driver) you can see how the long and winding exit lane with more tunnels than a Hutchinson prairie dog town, conveniently bypasses the entire traffic jam and safely gets back on the highway.
httpvh://youtu.be/J5qCE1Y9O4k
Now if only someone would get rid of the long stop light at the end of the exit ramp.
In the meantime, we are looking forward to KDOT’s other poorly engineered projects and their unintentional results.
