my own personal pirate

While talking on the fone to Justin yesterday it occurred to me that perhaps this was not normal to the western mind. In London, I don’t think it is so common for a person to have their own personal pirate, whereas in Moscow it simply seems like common sense.
It all started on Wednesday when I was talking to Vladimir. We both love cinema, so at work we often compare the films we have seen, give each other recommendation, and swap dvds. We were doing so again on Wednesday when Vladimir asked me where I was getting my dvds. I have a few favourite places. For huge blockbusters (da vinci code, поцелуй бабочки) i simply go to the perehod near my metro station (a perehod is an underpass that allows you to cross a major street, they are also something like mini shopping centres, since people set up kiosks inside and sell everything from pepsi and chocolate to dvds and underwear)
When I want something more specific, I go to some perehods in the centre, where there is better choice, and if I feeling really ambitious, or I need some computer software, I go all the way out to gorbushka, a monstrously large complex that takes up the whole block of a street and sells everything electronic you could ever want. The going price for a dvd is about 100 rubles, which is to say just under 2 pounds, although you can get them for 80 if you go a bit out of the centre.
I though 2 pounds was a fair price to pay for a dvd, but Vladimir insisted I was paying far too much. He has his own personal pirate. Every month, he, his wife, and a few friends give the pirate a list of the 100 films they want that month, and a few days later, when everything is ready, the pirate delivers the dvds to Vladimirs office (yes, to the office). The pirate wont take orders of less than 100, and as a result gives Vladimir a good discount: he pays only 45 rubles per dvd, which is under 1 pound. He also saves Vladimir the effort of having to go to perehods all over the city to hunt down the dvds he really wants. Normally the pirate is able to produce about 80% of the films requested, and, being a civilised pirate, he doesn’t charge for the films he couldn’t find and deliver. Obviously this is a logical and effective way to save time, money, and hassle. So from now on, I am giving my orders directly to the pirate. I will let you all know the results.
Oh, and just as a final note, anticipating you queries as to the legality of all this, I thought I might add that Vladimir is ex-FSB. The FSB is what the KGB was renamed after the collapse of the Soviet Union. And even though he no longer works there, Vladimir still has strong connections with the state security apparatus. Furthermore, these connections are not exclusively limited to the Russian Federation; he also seems to have strong ties with people in the security services in other former Soviet Republics. So I guess the pirate has himself a very good customer indeed.