It's 1st May today - one of the few national holidays that Russia and the UK have in common. In the UK it's simply 'May Day'; here in Moscow it's euphemistically called the 'Day of Spring and Labour'. Traditionally, it's the time when protest marches are organised and secular and religious groups stand side-by-side throughout the country to show their feelings about tax, employment (or lack of), the government...the list goes on. As it is a mild day today, I have a feeling that traditional spots such as Revolution Square, Pushkin Square etc. will be thronged with people.

It's also the first holiday that many people use as a chance to go to their dachas, so I had an interesting journey home last night.....a chance to use my new-found knowledge of Moscow's to weave in and out and avoid the blockages that I saw!

As for me, I have been struck with "teacher's curse" - illness in the holidays! I have had the inklings of a cold all week, with a runny nose that has got worse and worse until finally, this morning, I woke up with a voice like a Dalek and as blocked as the Moscow ringroad. That likewise put the block on our plans for the day - Nataly and I were going to take Olga to Borodino, a site about 2 hours' drive outside Moscow, where the Russians famously fought the French almost 200 years ago. So Nat went to meet up with Olga anyway, and they have had a 'sisters' day around Moscow instead.

The weather is warming up here: it's a very pleasant 18 degrees C today, and everywhere is now bright and colourful after the dullness of the wintertime. Orange and black are currently the colours, in preparation for the Victory Day celebrations on 9th May, as Russia commemorates the end of the Second World War or 'Great Patriotic War' as it is referred to here.

Russia's reverence for this war is understandable. Over 20 million men - a generation - was wiped out during the four years that the Soviet Union took part in this conflict. Very few families in Russia and the former Soviet Bloc were left untouched by the war. Certainly my own Russian family have many stories of suffering and death that befell them and their relatives. Nataly's grandmother lost several brothers, as did her grandfather. The war is imprinted onto the psyche of the survivors, veteran and their offspring.

This year marks the 65th anniversary of the end of the war. The veterans here are treated with an enormous amount of respect by the younger generations and the debt that they owe to these older men and women is re-acknowledged each year. It is one of the few occasions where the hammer and sickle is flown and no fuss is made about it - although when Moscow's mayor planned to put up posters of Stalin in prominent locations as part of the Victory Day celebrations, that caused some furore for a few weeks. In the end, posters were put up in only a couple of places. The 'rehabilitation' of Stalin is a very contentious issue: there are moves to almost 'rewrite history' remove the demonisation around the image of Stalin. I am reminded of the comment made by a friend who read some literature examining Hitler and Stalin, and had to stop before he got halfway through because, as he said, it was just too awful.

So, next week, there will be numerous parades around Moscow and all of Russia's other major cities. Here in Moscow, the artillery will be paraded on Red Square and there will be battallions from the UK, France and the USA joining with the Russian troops for the annual parade. It is quite a spectacle. One thing that the Russians do, is put on a good show!

As for us - we will be far outside of the city. We will be at a dacha near to the old city of Vladimir, having some r&r with our good friends Tom and Katya. Thanks to Daniel and Emily, some other good friends, we discovered this place last year and decided to make use of it again. The (American-Russian) couple who own it have done a lot of renovation work and really made it into a beautiful place, but without detracting from its character. Sometimes it's just good to be out of Moscow on holiday weekends! It is a three-day weekend, as 9th May falls on a Sunday, and our church is joining with another for its service. However, given that Nataly gets the Monday off, we thought we'd take full advantage and get out!

I have the following week off as our May holiday, and then we have a week back before SATs begin. I can't believe that we're almost at the end of the academic year...where has it gone? It has been a challenging year, balancing the dual responsibilities of Deputy Head and class teacher, but I am getting there. In this last couple of weeks I finally found what I would call a happy medium, balancing things out a little bit better between home and school, so that was a good feeling. Having Stuart to work with is a great help as he is very well-organised and good at getting everything done on/ahead of schedule.

Sally's wedding is just around the corner, as is Alice's graduation. Poor Pug is stuck in at home with chickenpox. Our niece must have given it to her, as she has had it recently. Sally is now temporarily resident chez Mama et Papa as their house in Wardley is being rented out, so she is getting used to 'living at home' again. We are so blessed that our parents still have such a large home and can support us with our moves, in terms of storing items (and indeed, storing us!)

Other than chocolate, tea and Marmite, I have very few vices - except electronic gadgetry. I am getting better at not indulging but this week I actually had to, as my BlackBerry became a KnackedBerry. For some reason, it kept resending e-mails and text messages that I had already opened and deleted. I went through all of the usual processes to try and get it sorted out, but to no avail. When a Smartphone becomes a Thickphone, it does it properly!

So it was time to peruse for something else. HTC have just launched their new A8181 Desire over here - it's a touchscreen phone that will invite comparison with Apple's iPhone. I liked it simply because it wasn't an iPhone - everyone has those - but like the iPhone it is very intuitive to use. In true Barnes style I haven't looked at the instruction manual but just experimented with it. So far I'm very pleased with it.