random things

A few random things:

• Uzbekistan's Independence Day (Mustaqillik) was on September 1. I was out of the country and missed the festivities, but noticed that a few things had changed around Tashkent when I returned. The major roads around the city had been repaved and relined. Not that the roads were bad (especially when I think of all the potholes on La Brea in Los Angeles), but one less bump in the road is always nice. If you've been to Uzbekistan, you know the lengths that people will go to avoiding the most minute imperfection in the road (head on traffic being preferable to running over a pebble). There was also a new monument constructed that is very bright and shiny, but the name of it escapes me at the moment. Also, they decided to repaint the common area (staircase) of the apartment buildings. In my building the paint job was so-so and didn't change the overall appearance much (other than making a huge mess on the stairs from scraping the walls). In some of the other buildings, though, it really made a big difference. Dark and dingy became light and bright.
• Drivers (and passengers) here seemed to be on edge for some reason last week. I saw two instances of road rage that really surprised me. The first happened when the car in front of the taxi I was in was cut off by another taxi. It was very close to being a three car pile up. The car in the middle had a man (the driver), woman and two children in it. The driver didn't take to kindly to the empty taxi endangering his family so at the next stoplight he got out and pulled the taxi driver out of his car and started pushing and hitting him. They were both somewhat round, middle aged Uzbek men, but the taxi driver definitely had the size advantage. The woman also got out of the car and started pummeling the taxi driver. I've seen shouting matches here, but this was the first full on physical altercation and it was taking place in the middle of a busy street. My taxi kept going, so unfortunately I can't tell you how it ended. The second instance of road rage was a bit more mellow, but a bit more involved because it was my taxi chasing someone down. We were making a left turn at the intersection of two major streets and a car runs a very red light and goes flying past us. The driver yells a few choice words in Russian and I figure that's the end. Nope, he slowly speeds up and before I realize it we are alongside the speedy blue Nexia and he is cussing at the woman driving it. His yelling eventually turns to a mumbling and we continue on our way.
• The trials have started here for some of the people accused of inciting the riots in Andijan back in May. You can learn more about it from the Moscow Times, Pravda, BBC News and CNN International. The reports are definitely skewed depending on the writer's bias.