Not too long ago I read Iron Council by China Mieville…which resonated with me in ways I’m still having trouble reconciling. So, when I was sent these images from Russian motorcyclists (at Lost Biker Ru) touring through Northern Siberia, who came across the Lost Railroad, one of Stalin’s Follies; I had to share.

We’ve recently come across an abandoned railway in Abkhazia, abandoned as a result of USSR collapse when new “independent” republics couldn’t maintain the complicated and high-cost USSR legacy objects. But this one was abandoned long before the USSR collapse, it was doomed to be abandoned from the beginning. It was built by Stalin’s order in the middle of nowhere – deep inside Northern Siberia between Salekhard city and Igarka town. It was not connected with any other Russian Federal Railway System and the purpose of it still is not very clear, so as a senseless toy it was abandoned pretty soon and now rusts, easily accessible only by helicopter.






























via Lost Biker Ru
I’m about to start baking a doghouse cake (carrot cake with cream cheese icing…which should make decorating all kinds of fun), and make chocolate dog and bone for Igor’s birthday. And like any impossible task, I have to try and get the whole thing done before he gets out of school. I’m apparently quite insane.
Been going to the gym every day right after I drop Boy at school. This is week two I think…or maybe week 3. I think 2. I started after my birthday. So far I haven’t missed a day. I’m doing treadmill, and bike and then a full circuit of the weight machines. I hope to be in bikini shape by next summer. Yay.
Currently reading China Miéville and PG Wodehouse. Two authors who have nothing in common other than their ability to engage the reader. But Wodehouse makes a nice change when China breaks my brain. No review for Perdido Street Station (which is free on the Kindle right now) yet, I’ve only just gotten to Part 4. But here’s my take on My Man Jeeves.
My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Project Gutenberg is my fave place for OOP and public domain books. I adore Wodehouse, and who can forget our beloved gentleman’s personal gentleman, Jeeves, who ever comes to the rescue when the hapless Bertie Wooster falls into trouble. Pithy buffoonery, moronic misunderstandings, gaffes, and aristocratic slapstick. It reads considerably more satirically now than it probably did in the heydays of 1919…but it hasn’t lost a bit of its humor.
View all my reviews >>
Working on a new technical writing site…it’s taking much longer than expected. Also…twitter is sapping my need to update the blog…instant gratification, doncha know. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, and let me know who you are, so I can follow you back.