Strange Russian locks, keys, doors
Plus a tidbit (in the video) about our current apartment
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I’ll be trying this year to post a number of videos and will be writing correspondingly less about our experiences here in Russia. The main reason for writing less is that I have a few other areas on my substack where I’m focused on writing on other, often more complex, topics, in greater depth. In addition, as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Based on that logic, then, perhaps a video is worth five thousand!
That said, here’s a brief video that offers a glimpse into Russian keys, locks, and doors:
I neglected to note and more carefully describe in the video the way the “teeth” on the long key demonstrated are cut at an angle. That angle is what causes, when the key is turned 90 degrees, then pulled, to retract the spring-loaded bolts in this lock.
I will also remark regarding the key I demonstrated in the video that, despite the fact that I have visited Russia numerous times and even lived here for about half the year last year, I had never seen a key like that before. When I asked a relative whether he had seen this style of key before, he affirmed that he had and that they are fairly common here. My wife added that this is the sort of key used at a home where she lived here prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. So, a new aspect of Russian existence for me but an old, well-worn one for Russians.
In addition to offering video snippets in these Russian blog posts, I will also be conducting some short interviews with some of our Russian friends and acquaintances. As I’ve previously noted, my idea in conducting these interviews is to introduce everyday, ordinary Russians to Americans so that we can see how much we have in common and how many of the same challenges we face in our daily lives. That, in turn, is meant to counteract the enmity that our leaders—and by that I mean primarily American leaders—are attempting to stoke between our two nations. Look for those interviews in the coming weeks.