I find it a little alarming when I come to my first major repack, to find that everything fits into my luggage first time, and with space to spare. As it took me three goes to get everything in originally, and my luggage was extremely full, it made me wonder what I had left out, and where the things I had left out had got to. My luggage has been losing weight from the outset, as I got rid of guides; copies of tickets and official documents; and tickets. I did find one pair of dirty socks and a pair of dirty pants that I had overlooked. The bulk of the improvement turned out to be mere practice.
Am I paranoid, or are they really out to get me. Yesterday on my return to the hotel, I became convinced that I had become the object of official observation. I saw what could be a series of unrelated coincidences, but that cumulatively, made me come to this conclusion. First, after checking my list of cyrillic signs I needed to look out for against one of the lists of destinations on the Metro, I emerged from the CCTV shadow of a large pillar to see a man with clipboard and radio, pantomiming to one of the CCTV cameras. The way I interpreted the pantomime was "its OK, he was just checking a sign". As I was the only person who had been checking a sign, and the only person who had been static for a period out of sight of a CCTV camera, I started to wonder. Then, when arriving at my interchange station, a man with a radio seemed to be taking an excessive interest in me. As I overshot my station by one stop, and had to swap platforms to return to my real stop, the same thing happened at the swap over station. Then, at my destination, the babushkya at the foot of the escalator saw me, and immediately got onto the phone while keeping her eye on me. I was at the time separate from other groups of people, and her actions as I passed were distinctly different from those while other people passed. Finally, at my hotel, there just happened to be a man waiting in the lobby, who as I approached started to talk on his mobile phone and then took the lift with me to the top floor, but did not get out of it at my floor.
As to why I might have fallen under suspicion, I suppose I had given lots of potential reasons. When leaving the Kremlin I had entered the Metro at what I thought was an interchange including the line I needed, but turned out to be a different interchange one stop away from mine. To find this out I had gone down to one line, then back up, and down again to another line. Then I had gone to a Metro map and spent some time building my list of cyrillic signs to look out for. I descended to the original line I had visited, checked the signs, and caught a train to the interchange I needed. In leaving the Kremlin, I had put pieces of my camera in my anorak pockets, so they were bulging. I was visually distinct - wearing a bright red fleece under my anorak - and darker skinned than nearly everyone. Bright colours are not a feature of dress for the travellers I saw on the metro. Also I understand that dark skin is associated with Chechnyns, and there is an understandable suspicion of such people.
Or I didn't fall under suspicion and I was making a pattern out of unrelated behaviour. Still made me wonder.
Am I paranoid, or are they really out to get me. Yesterday on my return to the hotel, I became convinced that I had become the object of official observation. I saw what could be a series of unrelated coincidences, but that cumulatively, made me come to this conclusion. First, after checking my list of cyrillic signs I needed to look out for against one of the lists of destinations on the Metro, I emerged from the CCTV shadow of a large pillar to see a man with clipboard and radio, pantomiming to one of the CCTV cameras. The way I interpreted the pantomime was "its OK, he was just checking a sign". As I was the only person who had been checking a sign, and the only person who had been static for a period out of sight of a CCTV camera, I started to wonder. Then, when arriving at my interchange station, a man with a radio seemed to be taking an excessive interest in me. As I overshot my station by one stop, and had to swap platforms to return to my real stop, the same thing happened at the swap over station. Then, at my destination, the babushkya at the foot of the escalator saw me, and immediately got onto the phone while keeping her eye on me. I was at the time separate from other groups of people, and her actions as I passed were distinctly different from those while other people passed. Finally, at my hotel, there just happened to be a man waiting in the lobby, who as I approached started to talk on his mobile phone and then took the lift with me to the top floor, but did not get out of it at my floor.
As to why I might have fallen under suspicion, I suppose I had given lots of potential reasons. When leaving the Kremlin I had entered the Metro at what I thought was an interchange including the line I needed, but turned out to be a different interchange one stop away from mine. To find this out I had gone down to one line, then back up, and down again to another line. Then I had gone to a Metro map and spent some time building my list of cyrillic signs to look out for. I descended to the original line I had visited, checked the signs, and caught a train to the interchange I needed. In leaving the Kremlin, I had put pieces of my camera in my anorak pockets, so they were bulging. I was visually distinct - wearing a bright red fleece under my anorak - and darker skinned than nearly everyone. Bright colours are not a feature of dress for the travellers I saw on the metro. Also I understand that dark skin is associated with Chechnyns, and there is an understandable suspicion of such people.
Or I didn't fall under suspicion and I was making a pattern out of unrelated behaviour. Still made me wonder.
No comments:
Post a Comment