Dva piva pozhaluysta
September, St Petersburg, Staying in a government hostel, outside the city centre, in the suburbs. Pionerskaya.
A mosquitofest!
My only Russian was Два пива пожалуйста (two beers please), so when confronted with an urgent need for a mosquito spray... time for some theatre!
In the nearby pharmacy I made a bizzzing sound accompanying wild arm movements... then phshhh! from an imaginary aerosol. It didn't work. Noticing my plight a young chap twigged what I meant.
"Protivomoskitnaya setka?" he enquired... and a mosquito spray appeared.
His English was limited to "Manchester United", so we just drank two beers and talked football.
- Category: True Stories Told As Fiction
5 comments add one below
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Christopher about 6 years ago
Really good, Neville. Reminds me of when Paul McCartney got busted in Japan in 1980 for marijuana and spent nine days in jail. He said the only English the other inmates knew were product names, so he'd say "Coca-Cola" and all the inmates would point at him and grin and say, "Ahh, Coca-Cola, hahaha!"
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Neville Hunt about 6 years ago
Thanks Christopher. My rejoinder to his two words was two words of my own Norwich City. Amazingly he seemed to know my team, or maybe he was being very polite. He was a very nice fellow and so I daren’t let him know that my grandfather played for Man United’s arch rivals Arsenal back in the days of yore. Mentioning that could have turned politeness into bloodshed!
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Jeff Taylor about 6 years ago
Great story Neville 😊
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Neville Hunt about 6 years ago
Thanks Jeff. I have a great fondness for the ordinary Russian people, even blokes (and so many of the women are stunningly beautiful, but I try not to mention that to Mrs H too much lest she's suspicious!) :-)
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Jeff Taylor about 6 years ago
😁
