Rainy day

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  Astana, Kazakhstan
Thursday, September 3, 2009

What do I do on a rainy day in Astana? Well, the first thing is to see if there has been any progress with the bike. I text Sasha. No response. Unusual. I text Assel and get an immediate response. They want the diagnostic programme! How am I supposed to know? I take the bus to the workshop. Well this hotel is costing a bomb so I'd better save wherever I can and 65 tenge as opposed to 600 tenge is not to be sneezed at!

I find a distraught Sasha at Astana Motors. He tried to text me all yesterday and could not get through. C'est la vie. We try the programme. No joy! The application is out of date so it's back to the hotel to try and sort that out. In the meantime they are going to take the starter motor off and see if it can be repaired otherwise it is at least a two week delay before they can get another one. Assel is so positive. Yes it will be fixed tomorrow, of course. Anyway, if not, something else will turn up. Well it is best to be philosophical and whether it is a Russian proverb or Inshallah there's not much else you can do. Sasha is more cautious. Perhaps it can be repaired but there might be other things wrong as well! He keeps my feet on the ground.

I take the bus back to the hotel and send another email to Bob, my saviour. I follow his instructions and it looks like the diagnostic programme might work but I need to get to the workshop to test it out. Ah well, something to do tomorrow.

There is the most torrential downpour for hours this afternoon flooding roads and disrupting the traffic but, fear not, my artist policeman is on duty and seeing to the smooth flow of his charges.

Assel has given me a cd she burned of Kazakh music but I'll have to wait until I get home before playing it.

I've become a regular at a cafe about ten minutes away from the hotel. It's not in the Lonely Planet, their recommendations do all seem to be overpriced, but it serves great plain food - cutlets, pilaf, meatballs and some great salads. It's quite comforting to come in at the end of the day no matter what the news has been to be greated by a cheery smile and hello and then go through the lengthy discussion on what I'm going to have. I even bought a dictionary today to supplement my phrase book so my meal is now less of a gamble than it has been.

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