It's been a day of firsts. Not something that you would think I could say after 7 years here but it does happen. One thing that's not a first, however, is having your nostril hairs freeze as you breathe in.......it's -23C (yes, -23C!) and it has to be felt to be believed. Cold. The children had their first indoor play of the year because of cold weather....once it gets below -15C then they stay inside. At least we are not in Oymyakon in Siberia; there they s...

This is now my seventh winter in Moscow and as soon as the weather begins to get cold, my mind always turns back to November 2003 and my arrival in the Russian capital. It's always interesting to read of people's conceptions (or misconceptions) of Russia. I can't honestly say that I had any of either. My earliest memories of anything to do with Russia stem from a certain Mr. James Bond 007, watching him combat the forces of SPECTRE and deal with many glamorous...

The snow is finally here! As I sit here typing this, it is softly falling outside and the temperatures are hovering around -5C. Pure joy greeted its arrival as the children spent Monday and Tuesday's playtimes building snowbases and various other constructions around the yard. The joy did not extend to their parents, however, some of whom had to sit in long queues of traffic on the way into Moscow due to the necessary slowdown created by the weather conditions...

WOW! I can't believe that it's almost a month since I last sat and updated my blog. Despite the best intentions of writing something weekly, it just hasn't happened. This has mainly been due to our Internet connection completely failing for a month and there is never any time to write anything at work (as there shouldn't be, really). So I am a month behind with all updates from The Great Bear. You have therefore missed out on our encounters with the GAI, the ...

Sitting on the plane on the way back from Vienna - apart from managing to stay awake, for once - I mused over the peace and tranquility of the last few days.My mobile phone hadn't worked; we'd checked our e-mail three times; and it had been wonderful to be so out of touch!Sometimes we get so caught up with the instancy of information that it's good to step back and remain away from everyone and everything. Both of us reflected on the beauty of the city that we...