One of the many books that we have about living and working in Russia says that a person should have a Plan A, a Plan B, and a contingency plan in case Plan A and Plan B don't work. I can personally vouch for this being the case, as it has happened to me many times, and it was very much true when trying to get my parents and sister out of the country. It is difficult enough trying to get into Russia, but I've never known it be so difficult to get out. Typing s...

I include the above picture as a bit of light relief. The snow is well set in to Russia and for the last couple of days has been coming down fairly thickly. This should just remind all of us that the weather in Russia isn't all snow! Although, I think that those in the UK would appreciate it more at the moment: it sounds as though they are coping with the cold weather less well than we are. Having said that, the cold weather was to our advantage in the middle...

I interrupt my usual blogging following a conversation I had with my family yesterday. We were discussing the changes that had taken place over the last year, within our family and the world in general, and it brought to mind something that I had copied down from a magazine in our hotel room in Copenhagen last February. I reproduce it here as I found it interesting and my blog isn't simply meant to be a diary of what I've done: What will we be wearing, buying,...

I've been here in Moscow for just over 6 years. However, that certainly doesn't mean that I've 'seen and done it all'. Anyone who lives in a place for long enough acquires a sense of ennui and familiarity about their surroundings and stops going out and looking. Passing by the statue of Yuri Gagarin - the first man in space - on the way to work each day, whilst always impressive, doesn't have quite the same effect that it had initially. Today we took my paren...

Whilst home during last summer, I didn't get to see my grandmother. She happened to be ill on the day that we'd organised to go down there and so we postponed at the last minute. Therefore, one of the priorities - from my point of view - was to go and see her. My grandmother is now 89. She's been a widow for almost 10 years; my grandpa died in 2000 (I can't believe that it has already been that long). Generally she has been compos mentis but in the last coupl...