Arrival

Wednesday July 14th

	Our train from St Petersburg was scheduled to depart at ten past midnight on Wednesday morning, but left a little behind schedule. By 01:12, however, we were on board and had made ourselves at home in the fortuitously underfilled compartment.

We were met at the station by Lena's friend Natasha, who led us back to her house at which we were going to stay. Despite the late hour the high latitude meant that it was still light outside. By 23:03 we were sitting with Natasha (and her cat) sampling some of the local cuisine. Natasha's cat was soon nicknamed 'spoiled koshka' because she would always eat at the table with us, slept with us and generally had the run of the house.

Thursday July 15th

Lena standing outside Natasha's building at 13:02. Natasha's appartment occupies the right rear of the bottom story. The houses were comfortable, but the facilities quite basic. There was no running water - that was fetched in buckets from the "Kalonka" at the end of the street, or from a well a little further away for slightly purer water. To wash your hands, a container above the sink is filled from a bucket, and the water flows through a valve in the bottom. The drain in the sink empties into a bucket underneath, which when full, is emptied by pouring the contents into the toilet. The toilet is of the basic 'hole in the ground' type. Taking a shower consisted a carrying a bucket of hot water to a little screened area across the road (behind where I was standing to take this picture). But they did have electricity and gas.

And here I am sitting on Natasha's door step shortly there after.

	Then Natasha arranged a lift in to town in the back of a truck owned by one of her neighbours. This is Lena and Natasha in the back of the truck at 14:12 while we were stopped to pickup some fuel.

At 14:45 we have arrived at the far end of the village, where we are to pickup some fresh milk (we had to wait while the cow was milked) and then visit Natasha's brother Lyosha.

	A view of this end of the village, which is the last stop of the local bus service (the other end being the station at which we had arrived). This was taken at 14:56 as we approached Natasha's brother's house.

After our visit we continued our walk down the road leading down the left hand side of the bay (looking out from the shore).

	This house was one of the more striking pieces of architecture. It apparently belongs to the local ambulance driver, who build the embellishments in his spare time.

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