ГОРМОСТ

That is, "GorMost". "Gor" for gorodskoj, adjectival form of gorod, meaning city, and "Most" for, well, most, meaning bridge. GorMost = City Bridge Service. John and I had risked leaving our heavy winter greys in Tallinn, but were surprised to be the only ones wearing bright, colourful -- and, purely by accident, both orange -- coats in Russia. That is, with the exception of the city maintenance crews. Each in turn, my Russian pals cheekily pointed out the amusing resemblance, likening the pair of us to the road repair service, the GorMost bridge crews and the mostly wizened, yet day-glo security-vested, street sweepers. Here I am posing with my workaday brethren on the bridge linking Vasilevsky and Petrogradsky Islands. (The pilons coordinate perfectly to boot!).

I'd forgotten how dirty things like bright orange coats can get, especially in gritty-grimy St. Petersburg. Every metropolitan foray adds to your wardrobe, whether soot, car exhaust (belched by any or all of the older makes of Moskvich, Lada, Kamaz, Zhiguli, Volga, etc.), cigarette scum, sticky public transport residue or an allover spritz of eau de fried meat. My city slicker was slick with city in no time, though there was no time to leech out the filth due to no substitute outerwear for the interim. And Russia was lousy with washing machines this time around.