Hello from Russia!

[Kenny Shovel]

the small garden with a brook in Windsor was almost as wonderful as all the precious things stored in the castle...

I think the best gardens I have seen are at the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

I was even shown a bullet there which had killed admiral Nelson... How much you English must love him to place that thing near crowns of kings...

A couple of years ago the BBC did a series of programmes to find the ‘Greatest ever Briton’, and I think he was in the top ten, mainly I suspect because he killed a lot of Frenchmen which is always a crowd pleaser over here. Churchill won, despite not killing all that many French citizens at all (unless you count the 1300 or so French sailors at Mers-el-Kebir).

Maybe - as too much walking leads to sore feet. I have done my walking too - mostly it made sense when some girl was with me. (Or when I wanted to be left alone and walked for several days all alone).

I used to enjoy walking trips like this when I was at school as we were too poor to have a car I walked or biked everywhere; because of this I had strong legs and the other kids would pay me to carry their bag too.

I do not believe I would have done that myself, unless other alternative was death.

There was a guy in England who died skydiving because his parachute ropes had been cut, the police investigated for some time then came to the conclusion that it was suicide!

I like the cars that could supposedly go fast, but I prefer not to drive faster than 120 - 140 km per hour... On our roads that is too close to suicide for my liking...

I remember the first time I went to Latvia I had two taxi journeys. One was on a moterway which did not seem competently built; we were going 200 km/h and I thought there was I good chance I was going to die. The second time I was late getting to the airport on the way back, the driver had to get his car (which was a big old merc) through streets which were very small and had cranes and bulldozers breaking them up, even though we were only going about 20-30 kh/h this time I was convinced we were going to die. When eventually we got on to the main road to the airport the driver got out a pen and piece of paper and started to write something down; as he did this the taxi started waving from side to side and he almost lost complete control on a couple of occasions. When he finished writing he gave me the paper which had his name and telephone number in case I needed a taxi the next time I was in town. I left his details in the terminal building, I do hope someone else used his services.

That's about what you've told me before: One of our leading politicians was accused of ‘corruption’ last year….

Oh yes, after the election Blair gave him a job back in Government, one of his responsibilities is the agency that makes sure fathers pay money for the upkeep of their children if they no longer live with the mother. People think that is quite ironic as he is the father of the first child of the woman he had an affair with.

Yep. It is expected here only for the middle of next month. I imagine it could be bought even now at our pirate dealers - but so soon after European premiere that wouldn't be of good quality...

Yes you know it’s a pirate copy when you can see the outline of the top of someone head at the bottom of the screen and hear people eating pop-corn in the background.

Yesterday we had the biggest ever electricity blackout in Moscow and Moscow region - we even had to go to dacha, as there was no electricity or water in our Moscow flat.

Mainly in the South of Moscow I heard, is that were you live?

Anyway I am still recovering from watching the Liverpool-Milan game last night, the sandpaper-mouth I had this morning indicates I enjoyed myself.

 

[bethm]

Quite a game wasn't it Kenny!
Were you were supporting Liverpool? I couldn't believe Maldini is still playing he is amazing, I first saw him - it must be 15 years ago, I have a real soft spot for him.
Anyway, thanks for the info Sergo,
and ebolamonkey, I suppose that's why I am strangely drawn to Russian literature, because I am essentially a miserable git! With trepadation, why do you think Cyka vodka would suit me? When I was in Russia our guide said that his favourite was black label Crystal, we all tried it chilled and it was gorgeous. I suppose if I had a favourite tipple it would be vodka, especially the flavoured ones; this week i have mainly been drinking the lemon one!!

 

[Sergo]

I think the best gardens I have seen are at the Palace of Versailles near Paris.

Oh... We have been planning for years to go there... But failed to, so far...
Really, I think French gardens too regular. I like the more "naturized" types - so I prefer English & Oriental gardens.

A couple of years ago the BBC did a series of programmes to find the ‘Greatest ever Briton’, and I think he was in the top ten, mainly I suspect because he killed a lot of Frenchmen which is always a crowd pleaser over here. Churchill won, despite not killing all that many French citizens at all (unless you count the 1300 or so French sailors at Mers-el-Kebir).

Oh. I always thought Churchill to be an ideal politician - he had courage, he was honest, he could think independently. Too bad people like him are one in a million. But of course my information of him is not enough for anything. As our historians were very careful to delete all mention of Churchill opposing USSR etc. and leaving only that part about him helping Stalin in the war, what's left doesn't look very relyable...
What's your personal opinion of Churchill?

I used to enjoy walking trips like this when I was at school as we were too poor to have a car I walked or biked everywhere; because of this I had strong legs and the other kids would pay me to carry their bag too.

Wow... I cannot boast of being especially strong, but I've made some money out of my muscles too - I worked as a loader at a big foodstuffs base, then - at another foodstuffs store in the center of Moscow during my Institute years, and then - at one of the first "free markets" near our home, when the socialism went down.

There was a guy in England who died skydiving because his parachute ropes had been cut, the police investigated for some time then came to the conclusion that it was suicide!

I still remember a tower-crane operator on my construction site who had been killed when his crane fell down because of a strong wind gust. They had investigated the case for several month, and decided that the guy had been guilty of the crash himself: some construction of the crane base had a defect, but the operator failed to find it during his regular checks. So the police likes suicide etc. as reasons for difficult death cases.

I remember the first time I went to Latvia I had two taxi journeys. One was on a moterway which did not seem competently built; we were going 200 km/h and I thought there was I good chance I was going to die. The second time I was late getting to the airport on the way back, the driver had to get his car (which was a big old merc) through streets which were very small and had cranes and bulldozers breaking them up, even though we were only going about 20-30 kh/h this time I was convinced we were going to die. When eventually we got on to the main road to the airport the driver got out a pen and piece of paper and started to write something down; as he did this the taxi started waving from side to side and he almost lost complete control on a couple of occasions. When he finished writing he gave me the paper which had his name and telephone number in case I needed a taxi the next time I was in town. I left his details in the terminal building, I do hope someone else used his services.

I believe the only time I was in a car making 200 km per h or so for a long distance had been 16 years ago, when a friend of mine who worked for the Moscow police then asked me and another friend to come to Lithuania with him. He drived so fast that policemen had not time to come and stop his car rushing past them... Sometimes they would inform the next post, and policemen came to block the road, so my friend had to stop and show them his capitan credentials, and speed on again... The most stressful moment had been in the night when there were some people trying to pull their broken car backwards along the middle of the road, without any lights - we had seconds to get by them and not to kill them and us all...

Yes you know it’s a pirate copy when you can see the outline of the top of someone head at the bottom of the screen and hear people eating pop-corn in the background.

Yes, and it costs three dollars or so...

Mainly in the South of Moscow I heard, is that were you live?

I live in the South-West of Moscow - near Kon'kovo metro station, between two natural parks - Troparyovo and Uzkoye. But the failure had been very widely spread - through East to West of Moscow and Moscow Region, with only the North part untouched... And there were no electricity for about 20 - 24 hours in some regions... Lots of foodstuffs got rotten, hundreds of thousand of people had to be evacuated from the metro and failed to get where they were going, as city transport got overloaded... Sewerage malfunctioned as water pomps stopped, and tons of shit got to Moscow river... Hundreds of people were locked in lifts... It's difficult to think about hospitals without electricity - I do not think all of them get sufficient back-up power sources...
It seems they will try to blame it on Anatoly Chubays, as he is the person the least liked by our powerful ones...

Anyway I am still recovering from watching the Liverpool-Milan game last night, the sandpaper-mouth I had this morning indicates I enjoyed myself.

I am so glad I am not a fan myself, as watching our Russian teams on international games would have been too distressful of late...

And, David, would you care to tell me who that person with the big mane is?

 

[Sergo]

Quite a game wasn't it Kenny!
Were you were supporting Liverpool? I couldn't believe Maldini is still playing he is amazing, I first saw him - it must be 15 years ago, I have a real soft spot for him.
Anyway, thanks for the info Sergo,
and ebolamonkey, I suppose that's why I am strangely drawn to Russian literature, because I am essentially a miserable git! With trepadation, why do you think Cyka vodka would suit me? When I was in Russia our guide said that his favourite was black label Crystal, we all tried it chilled and it was gorgeous. I suppose if I had a favourite tipple it would be vodka, especially the flavoured ones; this week i have mainly been drinking the lemon one!!

BTW, Crystal is the name of a factory which is known for doing very good vodkas.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Quite a game wasn't it Kenny! Were you were supporting Liverpool?

I’m not a Liverpool supporter as such, however when I was at school in the early-mid eighties a couple of my friends were huge Liverpool fans. I used to go with them to see Liverpool play quite a lot (this was the Groberlaar, Hanson, Lawrenson, Souness, Dalgelish, Rush team) and I still have a lot of affection for the club from those times.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Oh... We have been planning for years to go there... But failed to, so far...

Versailles is defiantly something worth seeing.

Really, I think French gardens too regular. I like the more "naturized" types - so I prefer English & Oriental gardens.

I think they have examples of oriental gardens at Kew.

Oh. I always thought Churchill to be an ideal politician - he had courage, he was honest, he could think independently. Too bad people like him are one in a million. But of course my information of him is not enough for anything. As our historians were very careful to delete all mention of Churchill opposing USSR etc. and leaving only that part about him helping Stalin in the war, what's left doesn't look very reliable...
What's your personal opinion of Churchill?

Well, if you look at some of the things he did in his life you can see he was no ordinary man, and in Britain he is a hero and for the obvious reason that he did the right thing at a very important moment in our history (he did not make peace with Hitler in 1940 as some people wanted). However it is well known that he was also a complex man and a very controversial one all through his life. He was certainly an imperialist, a believer in British superiority and when it came to conflict an advocate of ‘an eye for an eye’.
So for all the great things he did for Britain in leading us strongly during the war you have to balance other things. He was in favour of using poison gas against Arab tribesmen during the 20’s, Britain certainly used it’s air force to attack, pretty much defenceless, Kurdish tribes during this period, and there are reports that gas may have been used as well. He was in favour of using machine-guns to break strikes during the 1926 general strike in Britain. He was in charge of the British navy at the start of WW1: during the period 1914-1919 the British navy blockaded naval supplies to the Central Powers which led to the death of almost a million German civilians. He approved the fire-bombing of German cities in WW2 and ordered the stockpiling of anthrax for use on German cities if they started fitting chemical warheads to the V1 & V2 rockets that were being targeted on London at the time. I could go on, but I think you get the point; he did the right thing at the right time, but our history books (certainly the ones you read before going to university) tend to miss out the more ruthless aspects of his record. Mind you, if ordinary Russians knew these things they’d probably like him more, what with your love of a leader with an iron fist!

Wow... I cannot boast of being especially strong

Neither would I, that was when I was young, as soon as I learnt to drive and got a car all that went!

So the police like suicide etc. as reasons for difficult death cases.

I think you’ll find that’s the same in many countries; particularly the many people who commit suicide or ‘fall down stairs’ in custody.

The most stressful moment had been in the night when there were some people trying to pull their broken car backwards along the middle of the road, without any lights - we had seconds to get by them and not to kill them and us all...

I remember being with friends driving to London one night, to see England play at Wembley stadium. We were in the right hand lane of a two lane road when the guy driving indicated to move into a third lane that wasn’t there; fortunately we managed to grab the wheel before he completed the manoeuvre. He was a nice guy, but a crap driver and not very bright.

I live in the South-West of Moscow - near Kon'kovo metro station, between two natural parks - Troparyovo and Uzkoye. But the failure had been very widely spread - through East to West of Moscow and Moscow Region, with only the North part untouched... And there were no electricity for about 20 - 24 hours in some regions... Lots of foodstuffs got rotten, hundreds of thousand of people had to be evacuated from the metro and failed to get where they were going, as city transport got overloaded... Sewerage malfunctioned as water pomps stopped, and tons of shit got to Moscow river... Hundreds of people were locked in lifts... It's difficult to think about hospitals without electricity - I do not think all of them get sufficient back-up power sources...

Wow, that sounds really bad. I know that I’ve been talking to friends in Odessa by phone or Internet ICQ quite a few times when there has been an electricity failure there. We used to have that happen a few times when I was a child, but now it is even rarer. I have lived in the South of England for 16 years now and I can think of only one perhaps two cuts in my electricity supply.

I am so glad I am not a fan myself, as watching our Russian teams on international games would have been too distressful of late...

Perhaps, but CSK Moscow just won the UEFA cup.

And, David, would you care to tell me who that person with the big mane is?

After 20 minutes of trying to work out which member of the Liverpool team you were talking about, I realised you meant my new Avatar.

The Picture is of Phil Spector, a famous music producer and all-round eccentric:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector

he is currently facing a murder charge:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4574439.stm

The hair incidentally is a wig (he’s worn them for years), and may be an attempt to convince the jury he is insane! I like the picture as it reminds me of one of my favourite cartoons from my childhood:

http://www.80snostalgia.com/classictv/hairbear/

I think you have to agree that the likeness is uncanny!

 

[Sergo]

Versailles is defiantly something worth seeing.
I think they have examples of oriental gardens at Kew.

OK - I hope I will see Kew gardens this year... Though I had not started the visa procedures yet... So maybe my daughter will the only one of us to come to London this year...

Well, if you look at some of the things he did in his life you can see he was no ordinary man, and in Britain he is a hero and for the obvious reason that he did the right thing at a very important moment in our history (he did not make peace with Hitler in 1940 as some people wanted). However it is well known that he was also a complex man and a very controversial one all through his life. He was certainly an imperialist, a believer in British superiority and when it came to conflict an advocate of ‘an eye for an eye’.
So for all the great things he did for Britain in leading us strongly during the war you have to balance other things. He was in favour of using poison gas against Arab tribesmen during the 20’s, Britain certainly used it’s air force to attack, pretty much defenceless, Kurdish tribes during this period, and there are reports that gas may have been used as well. He was in favour of using machine-guns to break strikes during the 1926 general strike in Britain. He was in charge of the British navy at the start of WW1: during the period 1914-1919 the British navy blockaded naval supplies to the Central Powers which led to the death of almost a million German civilians. He approved the fire-bombing of German cities in WW2 and ordered the stockpiling of anthrax for use on German cities if they started fitting chemical warheads to the V1 & V2 rockets that were being targeted on London at the time. I could go on, but I think you get the point; he did the right thing at the right time, but our history books (certainly the ones you read before going to university) tend to miss out the more ruthless aspects of his record. Mind you, if ordinary Russians knew these things they’d probably like him more, what with your love of a leader with an iron fist!

Wow. Quite a man, I must say. But really I am not too kin about leaders who are ready to machine gun the strikers... I would prefer a leader with a firm grasp on technical aspects of his duties, not on people... Though in time of war and turmoil nation could be better off with a leader of steel... Maybe...

I think you’ll find that’s the same in many countries; particularly the many people who commit suicide or ‘fall down stairs’ in custody.

Yep. The last major case like this was last winter, when the leader of the so-called "Organized Crime Group" the URALMASH of Ekaterinbourg (really one of the city leaders) was found dead in his prison cell. He was brought to prison for some minor problem, and promptly killed there, as it would be impossible to get any evidence against him...

Wow, that sounds really bad. I know that I’ve been talking to friends in Odessa by phone or Internet ICQ quite a few times when there has been an electricity failure there. We used to have that happen a few times when I was a child, but now it is even rarer. I have lived in the South of England for 16 years now and I can think of only one perhaps two cuts in my electricity supply.

It occurs here quite rarely, but such things show how brittle our civilization is.
Usually only the electricity supply to the flats is cut, and lifts etc. are functioning. Such cuts happen maybe once a year, sometimes twice, sometimes - once in several years... That's in Moscow... In some places there is roughly equal chance to find electricity or not to find, when you click the switch on...

Perhaps, but CSK Moscow just won the UEFA cup.

Yep, this Gazzaev guy knows a thing or two about football, I imagine.

After 20 minutes of trying to work out which member of the Liverpool team you were talking about, I realised you meant my new Avatar.

The Picture is of Phil Spector, a famous music producer and all-round eccentric:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Spector

he is currently facing a murder charge:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4574439.stm

The hair incidentally is a wig (he’s worn them for years), and may be an attempt to convince the jury he is insane! I like the picture as it reminds me of one of my favourite cartoons from my childhood:

http://www.80snostalgia.com/classictv/hairbear/

I think you have to agree that the likeness is uncanny!

Yep, I do.
And the personality is interesting. The guy must have some gun obsession.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

OK - I hope I will see Kew gardens this year... Though I had not started the visa procedures yet... So maybe my daughter will the only one of us to come to London this year...

If any of you are here at the start of July there is going to be a big concert in London at that time (to coincide, and try to put pressure on, the G8 meeting that is being held in Britain) which would be worth going too. There are details being announced today, it may well be mentioned on your news tonight.

Wow. Quite a man, I must say. But really I am not too keen about leaders who are ready to machine gun the strikers... I would prefer a leader with a firm grasp on technical aspects of his duties, not on people... Though in time of war and turmoil nation could be better off with a leader of steel... Maybe...

As I said you have to balance what you like and don’t like about him. For all the parts of his life that you can feel unease about, you have to balance with the fact that he did the right thing at the right time for our country and indeed for everyone. Rather embarrassingly the Nazis admired the British and actually believed they could have an alliance with us, many in Britain were happy to except this situation (or at least a ceasefire), Churchill was not. You can work out your own conclusions as to how history would be different had a weaker man been in his position.

Yep. The last major case like this was last winter, when the leader of the so-called "Organized Crime Group" the URALMASH of Ekaterinbourg (really one of the city leaders) was found dead in his prison cell. He was brought to prison for some minor problem, and promptly killed there, as it would be impossible to get any evidence against him...

I’m not sure about Russia but certainly this has happen to Journalists in Ukraine.

It occurs here quite rarely, but such things show how brittle our civilization is.Usually only the electricity supply to the flats is cut, and lifts etc. are functioning. Such cuts happen maybe once a year, sometimes twice, sometimes - once in several years... .

It sounds similar to Britain in the 1970’s.

That's in Moscow... In some places there is roughly equal chance to find electricity or not to find, when you click the switch on...

I don’t think we’ve ever had problems that bad though…

Yep, this Gazzaev guy knows a thing or two about football, I imagine.

Is football a dominant sport in Russia or just one of many? I suspect you know how central a place it takes in British cultural life.

And the personality is interesting. The guy must have some gun obsession.

In modern music there are quite a large number of eccentric sometimes crazy people, in some cases they are pretending to be this kind of personality as it is good publicity. But Phil Spector is the genuine article, as my mother would say ‘He’s not got both his paddles in the water’.

 

[Sergo]

If any of you are here at the start of July there is going to be a big concert in London at that time (to coincide, and try to put pressure on, the G8 meeting that is being held in Britain) which would be worth going too. There are details being announced today, it may well be mentioned on your news tonight.

OK, thanks, I will check.

As I said you have to balance what you like and don’t like about him. For all the parts of his life that you can feel unease about, you have to balance with the fact that he did the right thing at the right time for our country and indeed for everyone. Rather embarrassingly the Nazis admired the British and actually believed they could have an alliance with us, many in Britain were happy to except this situation (or at least a ceasefire), Churchill was not. You can work out your own conclusions as to how history would be different had a weaker man been in his position.

They say the same could be said about our Stalin, at least to some extent - but of course it is impossible to balance his good deeds against his bad ones. He could have ruled us with iron hands, but the people he killed and the problems he caused with deporting peoples and redividing territories would never allow us to call him a good ruler.

It sounds similar to Britain in the 1970’s.
I don’t think we’ve ever had problems that bad though…

They say our problem will soon start: it had been easier in the Socialist times to budget installation of new hardware. Now that to spend money on hardware a businessman has to get it out of his pocket, most of them are reluctant to do so. So mostly what we have working in the electricity supplying business is ages old: the station that failed last time and allegedly caused the shut-down has been made back in 1962...

Is football a dominant sport in Russia or just one of many? I suspect you know how central a place it takes in British cultural life.

It had been once, when I was 5 or 10 years: in every yard we had a football team than. My own father had played for the Lokomotive in the beginning of the 60es. Then came Sambo, djudo, carate. Then we had tennis. And chess and figure skating were always considered as our national sports here. Then... Hockey...
So I am not sure if we have any sport having so high a place in our cultural life as football does in British. I am sure that to find a yard football team would be nearly impossible now.

In modern music there are quite a large number of eccentric sometimes crazy people, in some cases they are pretending to be this kind of personality as it is good publicity. But Phil Spector is the genuine article, as my mother would say ‘He’s not got both his paddles in the water’.

We have many eccentrics too - but none that I remember of such a position in the show business... Our Philip Kirkorov who married our legend star Alla Pugacheva (Their age difference must be 15 - 20 years) is known for doing offensive things in public. But he is not an eccentric - just an arrogant pig.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

If any of you are here at the start of July there is going to be a big concert in London at that time (to coincide, and try to put pressure on, the G8 meeting that is being held in Britain) which would be worth going too. There are details being announced today, it may well be mentioned on your news tonight.

OK, thanks, I will check.

Well, it’s July 2nd and the tickets are free but allocated by a kind of ‘lucky dip’ method. It’s Madonna, U2, Coldplay, Elton John, Paul MaCartney, Sting, R.E.M., Robbie Williams etc playing in London, not all my favourites but I’ll try and get tickets for others who may be interested.

They say the same could be said about our Stalin, at least to some extent - but of course it is impossible to balance his good deeds against his bad ones. He could have ruled us with iron hands, but the people he killed and the problems he caused with deporting peoples and redividing territories would never allow us to call him a good ruler.

Well I think that Churchill had more of a mixed record than most British people believe but I wouldn’t compare him to Stalin!

They say our problem will soon start: it had been easier in the Socialist times to budget installation of new hardware. Now that to spend money on hardware a businessman has to get it out of his pocket, most of them are reluctant to do so. So mostly what we have working in the electricity supplying business is ages old: the station that failed last time and allegedly caused the shut-down has been made back in 1962...

That’s interesting, so is your electricity network privatised but without adequate monitoring by government to ensure they meet the correct standards? If so this seems a familiar story from modern Russia.

It had been once, when I was 5 or 10 years: in every yard we had a football team than.

Ok, I seem to remember reading somewhere that in the old Soviet times each country was given a sport that it could concentrate on to give a focus for National pride. So Czech Republic produced good tennis players, Hungry football, Romania Gymnastics, and so on even to the point that Latvia has an excellent Ice Hockey team, and Lithuania are the current European Basketball champions. I never worked out what Russia’s sport was supposed to be, but then perhaps given it’s place in USSR you were expected to produce athletes to excel in them all?

My own father had played for the Lokomotive in the beginning of the 60es.

That’s impressive, Locomotive are a famous club.

Then came Sambo, djudo, carate. Then we had tennis. And chess and figure skating were always considered as our national sports here. Then... Hockey...

I forgot about chess. I read a book about the Spassky v Fischer match from 1972 called “Bobby Fischer goes to war”; Fischer comes across as a bit of an arsehole to be honest, but a brilliant, entertaining arsehole.

So I am not sure if we have any sport having so high a place in our cultural life as football does in British.

Yeah, it’s pretty important. Were you in London last year during the European Championships? Whenever that or the World cup comes round the entire country goes insane for about two months!

Our Philip Kirkorov who married our legend star Alla Pugacheva (Their age difference must be 15 - 20 years) is known for doing offensive things in public. But he is not an eccentric - just an arrogant pig.

Often the same thing!

 

[Sergo]

Well, it’s July 2nd and the tickets are free but allocated by a kind of ‘lucky dip’ method. It’s Madonna, U2, Coldplay, Elton John, Paul MaCartney, Sting, R.E.M., Robbie Williams etc playing in London, not all my favourites but I’ll try and get tickets for others who may be interested.

OK. My wife has really been mad with me for that last time we hadn't been to any London show. Really it would have been great to hear Sting - we love his music, though the only group I could consider myself to be a fan of is the Nazareth. Each time I go to their show in Moscow I found myself wondering why the heck do I do this, but just the same the next time I can I go again. Maybe it is because they were very popular with us when we were young, and they were kind of not approved by our authorities back then, so it added a lot to their popularity with us.
As to our coming this year... Wife manages that... Let's see... But the daughter is going almost surely (it depends only on her visa now, and she had not been a serious violator of anything, as far as I know), and she is very keen on it. She will go with her friend from her school, they will live in some city 70 km from London, and she asked me yesterday how easy it would be for them to get to London from there...

Well I think that Churchill had more of a mixed record than most British people believe but I wouldn’t compare him to Stalin!

Yep, I wouldn't too.

That’s interesting, so is your electricity network privatised but without adequate monitoring by government to ensure they meet the correct standards? If so this seems a familiar story from modern Russia.

Errr... That's another time I need to remind you that our govt is not the same as you have. If you remember that incident with tickets... It would be impossible to have something like that here, as our man of powers would have assigned a car with a personal driver to that woman, and no one would ever have bothered about it, and the taxpayers would have paid for it. So there could not be such thing as "adequate monitoring by government" here, as, alas, our government is not adequate. (Of course it is not exactly the same as in The Comedians, but the principle is very much alike). Would you believe that our Duma deputates issued the law that their pension should be about ten times what is currently an average pension for an average person? (Or twenty times that, sorry, I should have checked that before mentioning).

Alas, this fenomena had already lead many factories in Russia (and Ukraine too) to be closed - as sometimes it is easier to sell all the equipment to somebody else and to let the building than try to organize some business...

And yes - our electricity network is privatised. Mostly it is RAO EES Russia, and its head is Anatoly Chubais. I like him, but 9 out of 10 people here would have liked to see him killed in the most brutal fashion.

Ok, I seem to remember reading somewhere that in the old Soviet times each country was given a sport that it could concentrate on to give a focus for National pride. So Czech Republic produced good tennis players, Hungry football, Romania Gymnastics, and so on even to the point that Latvia has an excellent Ice Hockey team, and Lithuania are the current European Basketball champions. I never worked out what Russia’s sport was supposed to be, but then perhaps given it’s place in USSR you were expected to produce athletes to excel in them all?

You know, I had never heard anything like this. (Of course that doesn't mean there were not such a thing). And yes - we were always told that victories of our athletes mean much more then just sport victories. I never could have understood that really. But the Propaganda is like this - they use any tiny thing they could to their advantage.

That’s impressive, Locomotive are a famous club.

Yep, and my father had been a real athlet - great at skies, I believe he was the first in Russia who tried to ski down a mountain on only one ski. Too bad I had not time enough to know him better.

I forgot about chess. I read a book about the Spassky v Fischer match from 1972 called “Bobby Fischer goes to war”; Fischer comes across as a bit of an arsehole to be honest, but a brilliant, entertaining arsehole.

Yes, I remember that we were also very keen on chess in the 60-70s. I have won some games with grownups at the age of twelve or so.
We were very much interested in that game of Spassky vs Fischer at the time...

Yeah, it’s pretty important. Were you in London last year during the European Championships? Whenever that or the World cup comes round the entire country goes insane for about two months! Often the same thing!

I do not think so, as I have the impression of London as a very sane place. Nearly the most peaceful I had ever known. Though we have seen a great mob of youngsters (and not too young too) going on skates, bikes, bycicles to the Bukingham palace, and then storming somewhere else. But that had not been in any way menacing - just young people having fun.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

OK. My wife has really been mad with me for that last time we hadn't been to any London show.

Yup, that’s a ‘must do’ when you come to London really. But what would you have wanted to see? A band, or play or Musical?

Really it would have been great to hear Sting - we love his music, though the only group I could consider myself to be a fan of is the Nazareth.

I think Nazareth are from Scotland aren’t they? Anyway they’re very Spinal-Tap!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_Tap

As to our coming this year... Wife manages that... Let's see... But the daughter is going almost surely (it depends only on her visa now, and she had not been a serious violator of anything, as far as I know), and she is very keen on it. She will go with her friend from her school, they will live in some city 70 km from London, and she asked me yesterday how easy it would be for them to get to London from there...

It sounds like they’ll have a fairly easy journey by Train into London from that distance. Let me know what town it is and I’ll check for you if you like.

there could not be such thing as "adequate monitoring by government" here, as, alas, our government is not adequate. (Of course it is not exactly the same as in The Comedians, but the principle is very much alike). Would you believe that our Duma deputates issued the law that their pension should be about ten times what is currently an average pension for an average person? (Or twenty times that, sorry, I should have checked that before mentioning).

Politicians here can vote on there own pay as well, nice work if you can get it.

And yes - our electricity network is privatised. Mostly it is RAO EES Russia, and its head is Anatoly Chubais. I like him, but 9 out of 10 people here would have liked to see him killed in the most brutal fashion.

The big Moscow trial was one of the main items on the news yesterday, just behind the EU referendum ‘No’ vote by France, which means it looks like my Ukrainian friends will have a longer wait to become EU citizens!

You know, I had never heard anything like this. (Of course that doesn't mean there were not such a thing).

It’s something I read a long time ago, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense and the more I can see the sports that were preferred in each country (east Germany = Athletics).

And yes - we were always told that victories of our athletes mean much more then just sport victories. I never could have understood that really. But the Propaganda is like this - they use any tiny thing they could to their advantage.

Still, funny when the USSR beat USA at basketball in the Olympics that time…

Yep, and my father had been a real athlete - great at skies, I believe he was the first in Russia who tried to ski down a mountain on only one ski.

Do you mean a snowboard or just one ski?

Yes, I remember that we were also very keen on chess in the 60-70s. I have won some games with grownups at the age of twelve or so.
We were very much interested in that game of Spassky vs Fischer at the time...

I never had the patience for chess as a child, although I know how popular it is in Russia; I bought my friend in Odessa a chess set from England with Sherlock Holmes pieces.

I have the impression of London as a very sane place. Nearly the most peaceful I had ever known.

Well, I think it depends on what areas you are in! There are some tough parts of London were it would not be a good idea to walk alone at night.
There is always an ongoing debate about crime, Government say it is deceasing, opposition say it is increasing (the same as everywhere else I guess). It could be a lot better but I suppose that as we still don’t have policeman that carry guns (during normal duties), it could be a lot worse.

 

[Sergo]

Yup, that’s a ‘must do’ when you come to London really. But what would you have wanted to see? A band, or play or Musical?

Errr... My wife on her first visit went to some Musical, as she thought it would have been a shame not to... And as I am not too keen on musicals... In the past two years we'd seen only two of them: Nottredam de Pari and Romeo & Juliet... And usually we go to plays which could be considered classical here in Moscow... So... If I could see Sting - it would be great... Or - just about any band doing not too heavy and not too rappish stuff would be OK... You know, plays wouldn't do the trick maybe, as my spoken language is even worse than the written, and my wife doesn't know a word in English really...

I think Nazareth are from Scotland aren’t they? Anyway they’re very Spinal-Tap!!

Grrrr. You will regret your irrespectfulness. I checked on this S-T, the Naz hadn't even been mentioned there once.
That's the good place on them, where you can learn lots of useful information (I really do not know how an intelligent person could live without knowing all that data): http://www.nazarethdirect.co.uk/mainindex.htm

Really, I always liked about a third or a fourth part of their songs, as the heavier ones are too much for me. But some ballads are very good. And not only ballads... "Animals", "Cocaine" (it seems everybody tried to sing it), "Born under the wrong sign", "The King is Dead", "You love Another", "Do Not Judas Me"... Until I started living with my wife 16 or so years ago, I had listened to Naz almost every day... Too bad she doesn't like loud music. And quiet music is mostly senseless IMO...

It sounds like they’ll have a fairly easy journey by Train into London from that distance. Let me know what town it is and I’ll check for you if you like.

OK - but my wife doesn't remember the city name (she is in Ukraine right now, BTW), and both my daughter and her friend can't remember it too (they are raiding bookshops at the moment, and try to get the friend's mother on the phone, who have to have the docs within her reach)... So I hope to be able to get a name soon...

Politicians here can vote on their own pay as well, nice work if you can get it.

Really? And has their pay to depend on some average level, or anything, or they could come up with any figure the like?

The big Moscow trial was one of the main items on the news yesterday, just behind the EU referendum ‘No’ vote by France, which means it looks like my Ukrainian friends will have a longer wait to become EU citizens!

Errr... The only obvious result of that EU failure that could be seen here is sky-rocketing of Dollar and downracing of Euro. As all my savings are cash dollars... Sorry, fellow Europeans...

It’s something I read a long time ago, but the more I think about it the more it makes sense and the more I can see the sports that were preferred in each country (east Germany = Athletics). Still, funny when the USSR beat USA at basketball in the Olympics that time…

You know, when a person believes in something other than just profit, he could show amazing results sometimes. In some sense the life then had been happy - as most of us believed in all the crap the State feed us. So those basketball players could be somewhat elated because of some successful piece of propaganda, and that had been enough to win, if the difference of quality had not been too great between them then...

Do you mean a snowboard or just one ski?

A ski - I think nobody heard about a snowboard here back then. Are you sure they had it already in Europe or USA by then? 1960 - 1963, I mean...
According to my mother, that were ski made for hunters - slightly wider than ordinary. So my father placed both legs on one ski, and - woooosh...

I never had the patience for chess as a child, although I know how popular it is in Russia; I bought my friend in Odessa a chess set from England with Sherlock Holmes pieces.

Now it is much less popular. I am not sure if my daughter knows anything about it... (What's she surely knows a lot about is SIMs - she keeps constructing homes, managing people etc. ).

Well, I think it depends on what areas you are in! There are some tough parts of London were it would not be a good idea to walk alone at night.
There is always an ongoing debate about crime, Government say it is deceasing, opposition say it is increasing (the same as everywhere else I guess). It could be a lot better but I suppose that as we still don’t have policeman that carry guns (during normal duties), it could be a lot worse.

Oh. Last year we used to come to the hotel very late in the night almost every day, and walked for long distances through different parts of London, but not once had we seen anything looking tough. I even thought that all these places one sees in films about street bands etc. is mostly exaggeration.
You know, I had been to most places in Moscow, and in worst times of our recent history, when some people were quite desperate because of dire straits they unexpectedly found themselves in, I sometimes had with me sums of up to $50K (because of my money-lending and money-exchanging activities) and I hadn't been ever robbed on a street. Of course, almost everyday the say on TV about exchanger's offices being robbed, people killed for $100 or less, etc., but in everyday life one can easily not to experience such a thing in a whole life. (My flat had been burglared once, but that's a different story).

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Errr... My wife on her first visit went to some Musical, as she thought it would have been a shame not to... And as I am not too keen on musicals... In the past two years we'd seen only two of them: Nottredam de Pari and Romeo & Juliet... And usually we go to plays which could be considered classical here in Moscow... So... If I could see Sting - it would be great... Or - just about any band doing not too heavy and not too rappish stuff would be OK... You know, plays wouldn't do the trick maybe, as my spoken language is even worse than the written, and my wife doesn't know a word in English really...

Yes, the language barrier knocks out quite a few options, plays, comedy clubs etc
So the double bill of Shakespeare’s Henry IV parts 1 & 2 at the National Theatre (my personal ‘must see’ this summer) wouldn’t be a particularly good idea for you!
Music concerts are probably a better bet, “Time out” (weekly what-to-do-in-London guide) lists about 50-80 gigs each night, though not it seems on there website:
http://www.timeout.com/london/
If you prefer more classical options then later in the year there are the “Proms”:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/
There seem to be a few Russian pieces and performers taking part.
Musicals are a bit of a “mixed bag” as I think it’s hard to tell what they’ll be like before you see them, particularly if they’re not really your cup of tea. Although there are one or two in London that are based on the back catalogues of famous bands, for example Queen:
http://www.thisistheatre.com/londonshows/wewillrockyou.html
http://www.rockyou.ru/
Personally I think it sounds a terrible idea but it should have quite a few songs you know in it!

Grrrr. You will regret your irrespectfulness. I checked on this S-T, the Naz hadn't even been mentioned there once.

‘This is Spinal Tap’ makes fun of all bands in general but a particular type of ‘Heavy Rock’ Band in particular. They are supposed to be a composite of various British bands Status Quo/Black Sabbath/Judas Priest/Iron Maiden etc, all of whom seem to get the joke and agree that it’s pretty accurate. If you haven’t seen it you should, it’s very funny, and captures the stupidity of being in a band brilliantly.

Until I started living with my wife 16 or so years ago, I had listened to Naz almost every day... Too bad she doesn't like loud music. And quiet music is mostly senseless IMO...

I was always a punk man myself.

OK - but my wife doesn't remember the city name (she is in Ukraine right now, BTW), and both my daughter and her friend can't remember it too (they are raiding bookshops at the moment,

If they want to get around London it’s worth getting an A-Z:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/resources-24424.html
You will have seen these yourself in London and may have brought one back with you. But even more useful is the pop-up maps that you can buy:
http://www.mapgroup.net/
Go to this site, click on ‘PopOut Map’ at the top and then you can click through a number of screens showing you how the map opens up and what info it contains.
Whenever I have shown people round London I always get them one of these as it contains all the general info you need for where things are but folds down to the size of a passport; it only costs £3 too. They do another version which has a small tourist guide, pen & compass for £8, but I think the smaller one is fine and fits into your pocket as if it is not there. They are sold at most British book stores; she will be able to get one at the airport I would think.
BTW, one tip for using the underground. The map of the underground is a very good, and clever design but doesn’t always give you an accurate view of how close the underground stations are to each other:
http://www.afn.org/~alplatt/tube.html
When planning a journey (particularly in the centre) it’s worth using the underground map with a street map (the PopOut Map is ideal for this, it contains both) as you may be able to save some time.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say your daughter and her friend where staying in a town to the north of London and their train comes into Paddington Station. Let’s also say you’ve got your visa and are staying at the same Hotel as last year near Lancaster Gate. Now if your Daughter & Friend wanted to get from Paddington to Lancaster Gate by Tube they’d get on the circle line to Notting hill Gate (two Stops) then change to the central Line for Lancaster Gate (another two stops). A fairly easy journey and depending on how long they had to wait for the correct underground trains it should only take them about 15-20 minutes. However if you look at the A-Z street map you can see that Paddington station is actually only about 4-5 minutes walk to Lancaster Gate. There are other examples like this in Central London, but I think you get the idea.

Really? And has their pay to depend on some average level, or anything, or they could come up with any figure the like?

I suppose they could increase their pay as much as they want but as they get criticized for even small increases, that is unlikely. In Britain an ordinary Member of Parliament is paid £58,000 a year up to the Prime Minister who gets £180,000. The ordinary members also get about two or three times their pay in expenses, out of which they have to pay for their office supplies, staff, accommodation in London etc..

Errr... The only obvious result of that EU failure that could be seen here is sky-rocketing of Dollar and downracing of Euro. As all my savings are cash dollars... Sorry, fellow Europeans...

I think it will take a while for people to work out the fall out from the French and Dutch ‘No’ votes, it has to be said that a lot of people in Britain have found the events of the last few days very amusing!

You know, when a person believes in something other than just profit, he could show amazing results sometimes. In some sense the life then had been happy - as most of us believed in all the crap the State feed us. So those basketball players could be somewhat elated because of some successful piece of propaganda, and that had been enough to win, if the difference of quality had not been too great between them then...

I think that at times Soviet Leaders were happy to use nationalism as a motivation, and also in a way as a smoke screen to distract from there own failings. But of course that can be said of many leaders in many countries at differing times.

A ski - I think nobody heard about a snowboard here back then. Are you sure they had it already in Europe or USA by then? 1960 - 1963, I mean...

I wasn’t talking about a snowboard, I think that’s an American thing from the 80’s.

According to my mother, that were ski made for hunters - slightly wider than ordinary. So my father placed both legs on one ski, and - woooosh...

No offence but that sounds like that kind of pointlessly dangerous thing that the British upper-classes used to do to entertain themselves. They created an Empire once you know, just because they were bored after leaving school.

Oh. Last year we used to come to the hotel very late in the night almost every day, and walked for long distances through different parts of London, but not once had we seen anything looking tough. I even thought that all these places one sees in films about street bands etc. is mostly exaggeration.

I’m speaking more of the suburbs than the Centre.

 

[Sergo]

Yes, the language barrier knocks out quite a few options, plays, comedy clubs etc.

Wow, thanks... It seems London is quite a busy place for those interested in music and plays...

‘This is Spinal Tap’ makes fun of all bands in general but a particular type of ‘Heavy Rock’ Band in particular. They are supposed to be a composite of various British bands Status Quo/Black Sabbath/Judas Priest/Iron Maiden etc, all of whom seem to get the joke and agree that it’s pretty accurate. If you haven’t seen it you should, it’s very funny, and captures the stupidity of being in a band brilliantly.

I see. Really, I've never before heard of this Spinal Tap. That's quite strange, as, it seems, they really do some music, and I try to pay attention to what goes on in music.

If they want to get around London it’s worth getting an A-Z:
http://www.reviewcentre.com/resources-24424.html
You will have seen these yourself in London and may have brought one back with you. But even more useful is the pop-up maps that you can buy:
http://www.mapgroup.net/
Go to this site, click on ‘PopOut Map’ at the top and then you can click through a number of screens showing you how the map opens up and what info it contains.

Thanks - I have myself bought an A-Z, and naturally brought it back with me - I like maps, really. (I have given it to a colleague going to London a month ago or so, but by now it is safely returned to me). The book is rather large, with spring holding pages, but very accurate and understandable.
By the way, I have a HP pocketbook, and there is a software with Moscow and Moscow region maps in it, giving help in finding just anything needed, having ability to work with GPS receiver to show the exact point where you are at the moment... I imagine that such things should be available in London, with, maybe, guides to museums etc.?

BTW, one tip for using the underground. The map of the underground is a very good, and clever design but doesn’t always give you an accurate view of how close the underground stations are to each other:
http://www.afn.org/~alplatt/tube.html
When planning a journey (particularly in the centre) it’s worth using the underground map with a street map (the PopOut Map is ideal for this, it contains both) as you may be able to save some time.
I’ll give you an example. Let’s say your daughter and her friend where staying in a town to the north of London and their train comes into Paddington Station. Let’s also say you’ve got your visa and are staying at the same Hotel as last year near Lancaster Gate. Now if your Daughter & Friend wanted to get from Paddington to Lancaster Gate by Tube they’d get on the circle line to Notting hill Gate (two Stops) then change to the central Line for Lancaster Gate (another two stops). A fairly easy journey and depending on how long they had to wait for the correct underground trains it should only take them about 15-20 minutes. However if you look at the A-Z street map you can see that Paddington station is actually only about 4-5 minutes walk to Lancaster Gate. There are other examples like this in Central London, but I think you get the idea.

We have about the same thing here, but, of course, the London underground is much more intricate than our... So when we have maybe several places with such a phenomena, there must be a lot of places like this in London.
By the way, how difficult it must me to navigate in London, where there are many streets with the same name, situated in different parts of the city...

I suppose they could increase their pay as much as they want but as they get criticized for even small increases, that is unlikely. In Britain an ordinary Member of Parliament is paid £58,000 a year up to the Prime Minister who gets £180,000. The ordinary members also get about two or three times their pay in expenses, out of which they have to pay for their office supplies, staff, accommodation in London etc..

OK, these 180.000 pounds is a lot of money. So MPs could spend it for paying rent, but not for buying flats for themselves, for transport expenses, but not for buying cars for themselves, etc.?

I think it will take a while for people to work out the fall out from the French and Dutch ‘No’ votes, it has to be said that a lot of people in Britain have found the events of the last few days very amusing!

OK, and what the British vote would have been? I see the voting in Britain was postponed...

I think that at times Soviet Leaders were happy to use nationalism as a motivation, and also in a way as a smoke screen to distract from there own failings. But of course that can be said of many leaders in many countries at differing times.

Sure, and sometimes that's a very strong motivation.

I wasn’t talking about a snowboard, I think that’s an American thing from the 80’s. No offence but that sounds like that kind of pointlessly dangerous thing that the British upper-classes used to do to entertain themselves.

I am there with you: I wouldn't try it myself. I even haven't tried mountine skiing, which is very popular here, especially with Mr. Putin positionong himself as a mountine skier. (I had a very bad impression after reading some story by Irwing Shaw on the theme: not that it started my attitude, but very much confirmed my viewing mountain skiing as... as... wait a second... : "kind of pointlessly dangerous thing", - that's exactly it. By the way, I've tried mountain climbing myself, just to test my ability to do it. OK, I can do it, by I am happy I have not ever to try it again. But I imagine that people MUST do crazy things. I like it I needn't to be that person myself.

They created an Empire once you know, just because they were bored after leaving school.

Wow, you mean the Empire had been created because your upper-classes were bored with what they had?! Very interesting point of view, I must confess.

I’m speaking more of the suburbs than the Centre.

OK, I see. I imagine we were not there.

You know, last Friday my transport agent called me to tell that a truck with my goods was arrested near SanctPetersburg. The driver tried to speak money with the police, but they wouldn't and they hadn't. And the driver was taken to some police headquarters and placed into a cell there. The agent and the truck owner were both very much afraid, and we started preparations to come there and to solve the problem somehow. I thought that we will need thousands of dollars to talk sense there. Then the owner called me and explained that after spending several hours in jail the driver was told that he has to give them a bribe: $150. The driver called the owner, and he instructed him to bargain to look natural. So it costed us $100 in the end to start the truck for Moscow. Oh, and a delay of 10 hours or so. Isn't it a marvellous story?

 

[Sergo]

Hi

My wife just returned from Ukraine, so I learned where our daughter will have her courses. That's some words about the place:

The University of Reading , where the Bulmershe Hall Magnifico Campus programme has taken place during the past 7 years, is a peaceful and safe environment in which to hold the courses. Students reside in the modern structure of Bulmershe Hall, located in a residential area of the Reading University campus, 15 minutes by bus from the city centre and 1 hours by bus from London . Heathrow airport is located on the M4 which leads to London and is linked with a very efficient transport service.

I imagine that the place is not a wellknown one yet.

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Hi

My wife just returned from Ukraine, so I learned where our daughter will have her courses. That's some words about the place:
Quote:
The University of Reading , where the Bulmershe Hall Magnifico Campus programme has taken place during the past 7 years, is a peaceful and safe environment in which to hold the courses. Students reside in the modern structure of Bulmershe Hall, located in a residential area of the Reading University campus, 15 minutes by bus from the city centre and 1 hours by bus from London . Heathrow airport is located on the M4 which leads to London and is linked with a very efficient transport service.


I imagine that the place is not a well known one yet.

I can’t think of anyone I know who went to Reading University so I can’t tell you what it’s like.

As for travel to London, I would imagine there will be two options, by bus or by train.

By train she will indeed be arriving at Paddington Station (clearly I was psychic or perhaps just a lucky guesser in my last post). The train company’s web site is:
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/home/index.php

timetables can be downloaded here:

Reading to London Paddington (Monday to Friday) download: - http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/servicepdfs/cur_54_10_Table 1 Swansea-London M-F.pdf

London Paddington to Reading (Monday to Friday) download: -
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/servicepdfs/cur_53_10_Table 1 London-Swansea M-F.pdf

Reading to London Paddington (Saturdays) download:- http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/servicepdfs/cur_60_11_Table 1 Swansea-London SAT.pdf

London Paddington to Reading (Saturdays) download: -
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/servicepdfs/cur_59_11_Table 1 London-Swansea SAT.pdf

Sunday Travel: - http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/travelinfo/fgwtimetables.php#guide

(Engineering works on a Sunday mean you’ll have to look up the timetable for the exact Sunday you wish to travel.)

Basically all you really need to know from that lot is that trains seem to be about every 15 minutes and take about 25-30 minutes to make the journey. Also worth noting the time of the last train back, as if she goes to a show one night she may need to find the time it finishes so she can check that she’ll catch her train back! I’ve done the desperate rush from the theatre to the station to catch the last train a few times myself!

Info on buses has proved to be much harder to track down. I can’t seem to find which local company runs the route to London; however it may be worth finding out about as, in general, bus fares tend to be cheaper than train fares in Britain.
One last thing about buses, your daughter and friend will want to use them to get into Reading town centre itself (even if it’s just to get to the railway station).

Reading university gives its bus routes into town here:
http://www.reading.ac.uk/maps/bulmershe/bc-bus.htm

the timetable for these routes are here, and bloody difficult to follow it is too:
http://www.reading-buses.co.uk/pdf/42_63_65.pdf

It seems from these two sites that Reading University has three campuses, your daughters doesn’t seem to have a very regular bus route from this info (one or two buses into town an hour at the weekend) if I’m reading the damn thing right. However I’m not sure how accurate that info is, as in my Town the university has a bus every 10 minutes.

I would suggest that when she gets to Reading she’ll need to get info about the bus timetables etc (hopefully it’ll probably be one of the first things she’ll be given when she gets there).

Oh, and Reading is the same side of London as Gatwick & Heathrow, so, assuming she is being picked up rather than having to use public transport, it should be a relatively quick journey between the two.

 

[Sergo]

.QUOTE]

You know, when I had thought about the place they are going to go to, I had always visualised that part in the direction of Heathrow too, without knowing that was the right place. Though in my case it is easier to explain, as that is the region I know best...

Thanks a lot - I have already mailed your message to the daughter, along with a map of this Reading University premises - hope she will use that.

And I checked Reading prices... It seems our agency is not getting a good profit out of it, or, most likely, they have special prices for agencies...

 

[Kenny Shovel]

Wow, thanks... It seems London is quite a busy place for those interested in music and plays...

It’s a busy place for pretty much everything, but the language barrier is your real problem.

I see. Really, I've never before heard of this Spinal Tap. That's quite strange, as, it seems, they really do some music, and I try to pay attention to what goes on in music.

Most people don’t realize they did actually put out some music about 10-15 years ago; but really they are just comedians. Still the film is worth seeing if you like that kind of music, and have a good sense of humour.

Thanks - I have myself bought an A-Z, and naturally brought it back with me - I like maps, really. (I have given it to a colleague going to London a month ago or so, but by now it is safely returned to me). The book is rather large, with spring holding pages, but very accurate and understandable.

Sure, the A-Z is good if you need the details of all streets, but for getting to famous sites in the centre the PopOut map is also very helpful.

By the way, I have a HP pocketbook, and there is a software with Moscow and Moscow region maps in it, giving help in finding just anything needed, having ability to work with GPS receiver to show the exact point where you are at the moment... I imagine that such things should be available in London, with, maybe, guides to museums etc.?

With a quick search of the web I can only find this:
http://www.dynamical.com/londonaccess.html
which I'm not sure has the GPS facility. I would suggest you try the place you got the Moscow software from. You know yourself that you can get pretty much everything in Moscow you could find here, but for less money.

We have about the same thing here, but, of course, the London underground is much more intricate than our... So when we have maybe several places with such a phenomena, there must be a lot of places like this in London.

Sure, it will be the same in Moscow. However it is worth remembering, you can sometimes save some time, and who wants to go by tube for 20 minutes when you can walk and see the sights in 10.

By the way, how difficult it must me to navigate in London, where there are many streets with the same name, situated in different parts of the city...

If someone is giving a street name like that, they should also give you the area (start of the postcode) i.e. W12 or SE2

OK, these 180.000 pounds is a lot of money. So MPs could spend it for paying rent, but not for buying flats for themselves, for transport expenses, but not for buying cars for themselves, etc.?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/talking_point/3762670.stm
As you can see, the debate about expenses is a hot topic when it comes up! I think the money can go towards renting or the mortgage on a second house in London. I’m not sure about cars, although ministers in the Government get a car with driver. The Deputy Prime Minister has two Jaguars and has been given the nickname “Two Jags”; he’s actually a bit of a character:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2968074.stm
In a way it’s nice to have a least one politician who forgets to always play to the cameras. Somehow he manages to get away with making rude gestures to Journalists, hitting protesters, and swearing at people (journalists again) because I think a lot of people look at him and think ‘Yeah, my dad would of hit that guy too’.

OK, and what the British vote would have been? I see the voting in Britain was postponed...

The British Government was planning to hold the referendum last in the hope that all the other countries would vote for it and they could say we have to vote this way as well or we will have no influence in Europe. It was always very debatable if a ‘yes’ vote would have been possible even under those circumstances. Poles taken after the French ‘Non’ and Dutch ‘Nee’ suggest that currently about 65-75+ would say ‘No’ here.

I am there with you: I wouldn't try it myself. I even haven't tried mountine skiing, which is very popular here, especially with Mr. Putin positionong himself as a mountine skier. (I had a very bad impression after reading some story by Irwing Shaw on the theme: not that it started my attitude, but very much confirmed my viewing mountain skiing as... as... wait a second... : "kind of pointlessly dangerous thing", - that's exactly it.

I meant that using just one ski was pointlessly dangerous.

Wow, you mean the Empire had been created because your upper-classes were bored with what they had?! Very interesting point of view, I must confess.

I was joking Sergo, perhaps I should type non-serious comments in Italics from now on?
Reasons behind British Empirical expansion are much more complex and related to trade and economy than I suggested! Although I once tried to work out with an Indian guy (from India, not British Asian) how Britain had managed to run India when we never actually had many people there; at the height of British power, only actually a few thousand civil servants, with most soldiers in the British Army in India being Indian. We came to the conclusion that the British asked nicely, and the Indians were too polite to say no. This was however, a theory we created whilst drinking in a pub.

You know, last Friday my transport agent called me to tell that a truck with my goods was arrested near SanctPetersburg. The driver tried to speak money with the police, but they wouldn't and they hadn't. And the driver was taken to some police headquarters and placed into a cell there. The agent and the truck owner were both very much afraid, and we started preparations to come there and to solve the problem somehow. I thought that we will need thousands of dollars to talk sense there. Then the owner called me and explained that after spending several hours in jail the driver was told that he has to give them a bribe: $150. The driver called the owner, and he instructed him to bargain to look natural. So it costed us $100 in the end to start the truck for Moscow. Oh, and a delay of 10 hours or so. Isn't it a marvellous story?

I’m most surprised that the driver didn’t have the brains to bribe his way out of the situation in the first place.

Thanks a lot - I have already mailed your message to the daughter, along with a map of this Reading University premises - hope she will use that

Ok, glad it was of some help.

 

[Sergo]

It’s a busy place for pretty much everything, but the language barrier is your real problem.

Oh-oh-oh. Too bad. Maybe I should take some courses too?

With a quick search of the web I can only find this:
http://www.dynamical.com/londonaccess.html
which I'm not sure has the GPS facility. I would suggest you try the place you got the Moscow software from. You know yourself that you can get pretty much everything in Moscow you could find here, but for less money.

You are both right and wrong. This software I've mentioned is just great, it is Russian and it is very secured against unauthorised use. It costs about $150 and that's a good price, as with it in a pocketbook one couldn't be lost in Moscow, how hard he wouldn't have tried. But. Each time the battery in the pocketbook is fully discharged, you have to register the software all over again, and first you have to prove that it is the same hardware and the same user. (I used my HP mostly for reading, and it was OK when I used it several times a week, but then I took a real book to read, that naturally took me weeks to complete it, and oooops - the HP was dead the next time I tried it.)
And as to foreign softwares, what they sell here is mostly stolen. So I never met a stolen software that has been 100% workable and reliable. And as for foreign maps - the last time I searched, I found nothing interesting here. But that was last Autumn, really...

If someone is giving a street name like that, they should also give you the area (start of the postcode) i.e. W12 or SE2

Yep, we understood that soon enough, but first time or two we were shocked...

The Deputy Prime Minister has two Jaguars and has been given the nickname “Two Jags”; he’s actually a bit of a character:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/2968074.stm
In a way it’s nice to have a least one politician who forgets to always play to the cameras. Somehow he manages to get away with making rude gestures to Journalists, hitting protesters, and swearing at people (journalists again) because I think a lot of people look at him and think ‘Yeah, my dad would of hit that guy too’.

We have our own "politician" who is positioning himself as a "simple folks' man" - that's Mr. Jirinovsky, who speaks sometimes absolute abracadabra, who gets in a quarrel now and again, who has beaten some deputates in our Duma and a woman reporter or two in public. Some people say that he is not so simple, but a very thoroughly calculated personality, functioning by the Kremlin's order, and that could easily be the case, as sometimes he speaks very sensible things.

I meant that using just one ski was pointlessly dangerous.

I understood that. I agree with you, but it is quite natural for every person to risk his own life if he/she feels inclined to do so: after all, almost everyone likes the adrenaline rush... I have enough of it due to my businesses, but for many that's BASE jumping, mountine climbing, picking up a new woman every day and so on.

I was joking Sergo, perhaps I should type non-serious comments in Italics from now on?

Oh no, that would be much more interesting for me to try to understand that myself. Though, it seems I more often fail at it than not so far (really, some of my jokes were lost on you, as it seemed). Alas, it seems my poor language skills trick me again.
Please show me when I fail to understand your joke, - maybe that would help me some...

Reasons behind British Empirical expansion are much more complex and related to trade and economy than I suggested! Although I once tried to work out with an Indian guy (from India, not British Asian) how Britain had managed to run India when we never actually had many people there; at the height of British power, only actually a few thousand civil servants, with most soldiers in the British Army in India being Indian. We came to the conclusion that the British asked nicely, and the Indians were too polite to say no. This was however, a theory we created whilst drinking in a pub.

I think that quite a lot of great ideas could be found while drinking. The problem is not to drink too heavy, so these ideas could be remembered afterwards... In ordinary life we do not pay too much attention to each other, maybe, so in a pub while we are closer to each other that could bring up something...

I’m most surprised that the driver didn’t have the brains to bribe his way out of the situation in the first place.

He tried, but was told that they wouldn't take money. That could be because they hoped to impress the driver so they could get a bigger bribe, I think. And of course they would have got their $100-150 on the spot, as that is the usual thing and the driver always has money for such occasions.
So all that fuss had been absolutely pointless.

Ok, glad it was of some help.

Yes, when I got home yesterday, the daughter has been reading yours. I think I should copy this thread for her to read, after all, to know more about UK. I am not sure I want her to read this whole forum though... But she would, I think.