Back from The USSR !

Sally returned from her work trip to Russia two weeks ago. Regrettably we ended up not joining her - it was just too complicated to do. She had a great time marveling at so many aspects of Moscow, of course not the least its history. She had three days of work then opted to stay on by herself for a further three days, taking in a UK public holiday. Below is a compilation and summary of her E-mails to us and to her family in Australia. 

 

The traffic is very, very heavy.  It took two hours from the airport to the hotel.  The smoking is even more here than in London with people still allowed to smoke inside. It’s really expensive and I am not sure how the average Russian copes.  There is, however, some very serious money here- very high end shops around, some pretty impressive cars being driven around 

very fast.......

 

... and women dressed up to the nines - amazingly lots of them walk around in really high heels even though the pavements here and the cobble stones are worse than London!  There is so much to look at and be amazed /confounded by!

I thought of you all tonight, but especially Kathryn.  Do you remember like I do the afternoons after church and Sunday roast when Dad would put on one of our ballet records?  It was usually either Swan Lake or Coppelia and Kathryn would dance around while the rest of us galumphed!

Tonight I am in Moscow, having been here since Wednesday afternoon for work, and I found my way at the end of our meeting past St Basil's and Red Square to the new Bolshoi (the old has apparently been under renovation  for about 10 years),  

Having been unable to find tickets on the internet, 

I was told the only option was to try to buy a ticket at the front of the theatre. Twenty minutes before start time I handed across less than I had expected - about £30 - and texted Mark to say I hoped I'd got a real ticket.  I certainly wondered if I was throwing away good money, but at 7pm the curtains went up and I sat for the next 2  1/2 hours watching the Bolshoi Ballet perform Coppelia!!

It was amazing and something I will remember for the rest of my life.  The music was all familiar from childhood, the costumes gorgeous, complete with lots of pairs of Russian red boots and the whole performance just wonderful.  The grace and strength of the dancers was hard to believe - it was all just fabulous.  It is hard to imagine in this big, busy, commercial and open city that when we were dancing around all those years ago to Delibes, Russia was the centre of the Soviet Union and the Bolshoi was something few people other than Russians got to see. I keep saying it, but "if you had said to me a year ago".....I am so excited and can't believe I have been lucky enough to have this experience.  The beauty of the ballet combined with the childhood memories brought tears to my eyes.   While I was there by myself, I was amongst locals, Dutch, Americans and Spaniards - everyone so happy to be there and loving it.  While I was there by myself, you were all there with me and Kathryn was dancing,

The Moscow Metro is really fast and efficient, even though the carriages are older than London; they come more often and are larger and longer.  Unlike London tube stations where you never know how they are going to look, the layout of all the stations is the same here. Unlike London it is the amazing decorations that differentiate them.  The very difficult thing is trying to understand where you are because there are no signs in English, just in Cyrillic.  Fortunately one of my colleagues recognises letters from her Greek and another from his time in Mongolia. When he and I “did” the metro last night I got him there with my amazing map reading skills and he used his amazing Cyrillic skills to work out how to get around and which way to go!

TUBE STATIONS NOT MUSEUMS !

 

 

I went up to Ishmailov markets by metro with 5 others on Saturday morning.  It was great fun wandering among all the stalls and seeing how similar some of the stuff is to Iran and Syria.  I would have spent much more, but I ran out of money and had to come away with less than I would have liked :-(  Anyway, it was a fun experience.

Lunch was at the markets - everyone ordered bbq lamb shashlicks which were brought upstairs to a smoky room above with little old ladies (babushkas?) in charge of everything.  I had fish instead and it was beautiful salmon.  

I have no idea where it came from!

Crapdogs ?

The ladies who served lunch

We went to the Kremlin in the afternoon.  I could have spent a day there, but there are so many people go through in summer time that they limit how much time you can have in places like the armoury museum.  The Kremlin is absolutely huge - a city within walls it has many churches, govt buildings, theatres, presidential building etc etc.  The churches are stunning while the artefacts in the Armoury are beyond price and unlike anything I have ever seen.  More pearls, diamonds, rubies than I have ever seen on some incredible items like bible covers.  We didn't even get to see the diamond store, though I might try tomorrow. 

 

Another hot day of walking the streets of Moscow!  I was out for 9 hours today and am exhausted, having walked everywhere with few places to sit down and stop.  I have been sweating heaps (who said this place was cold – it’s been high 20s every day!) so I’m heading up to have a shower and will then try to get to a concert (probably won't happen but no harm in trying).  I have been to the Russian Fine Art Museum and seen Flemish masters amongst others, the Church of our Saviour and the Diamond Fund at the Kremlin (rivals the Crown Jewels) – stunning stuff.  I didn't get all the complex rules though…

… the Tchaikovsky concert hall organ recital was an absolute hoot - The young beautiful female organist was fantastic but it was bizarre going from traditional to modern to choral to rock with string then string and recorder in between (with organist mimicking flamenco then going off to change her outfit for the first of several times!). Her last departure was off the stage on a motorbike !!  Quite different from anything I have ever seen before!

Lat day - I caught the metro by myself this morning (all in Cyrillic!) and went down to see St Basil's.  I was going to try to see national history museum but ran out of time having decided to spend more time at St Basil's which was gorgeous.  Came past tomb of Lenin to see if I could go in, but having missed the 2 hours it was open yesterday, today it was closed.  Have seen lots and done lots but I leave with a list of things I would still like to see here and with St Petersburg on the list too - that as they say will have to wait for another time!

Sitting in the Domododevo airport.  French Open is on to occupy us - we got here early having allowed 2 hours to airport (what it took from airport to city) but got here before 3 for a 5.30 flight and flight is now going to be at least 40 minutes late because the aircraft is late from London.  Ho hum! See you all soon XXX

A BLAST FROM THE PAST.

Some of you will know that Mark, at one stage, has been in jail. Yes, as upstanding and civic minded as he is now, he has been on the wrong side of a cell door - one of Saddam Hussein’s cell doors at that.

Mark was imprisoned in Fallujah, just outside of Baghdad in April, 1990. It is a very long story and for those of you who have heard it zoom down to the bottom of the post and the pictures to see why it is being revisited now. 

Essentially Mark met an American guy, Chris Cantelmi, in Amman, Jordan at The Cliff hotel – a renowned travellers’ hangout. Chris was planning to hitch-hike the 1,000 Kms into Baghdad and persuaded Mark to join him. 

Chris delayed his departure or Iraq by a day so Mark could get an Iraqi visa. Setting off in rain from Amman, they caught lifts on a variety of trucks, driving at breakneck speeds along a highway littered with the burned-out remains of trucks that had either been targeted in the Iran/Iraq war or simply run off the road. Having just met the day before they whiled away the hours trying to chat to their drivers or sharing their own stories of travels and life at home. 

They crossed the border in the wee small hours and caught a lift with a truckie who, at one stage, Mark saw slapping himself to stay awake as he weaved around the potholes and shell blast craters in the road. The next day they found themselves being dropped off on the freeway just 60 kms from Baghdad. As they walked along the freeway to get to the Baghdad turnoff and, with the end so close, they saw a highway patrol car drive past them, slow down, do a U-turn and come back. 

Two hitch hiking foreigners were a slightly unusual sight in Iraq and the boys were walking on the freeway – an offence in most countries including Australia. A cursory search of their bags on the road produced cameras and long lenses. This was enough to warrant being driven to the local police station where further incriminating evidence was found, not the least being a snorkel that Chris had brought with him. There was a series of ‘interviews’ largely in Arabic about who they were and what they were doing. All through this they kept hearing the word ‘Bazoft’ and couldn’t work out what it meant. 

It was all quite polite and calm even though Chris persisted in, unknowingly, offending the station chief by sitting with his legs crossed in a way that showed the soles of his shoes to the captain. A grave insult in the Middle East. Eventually Mark & Chris were ushered into a cell. Up until now they were not too worried more anxious to get on their way to Baghdad. The sight of a large room filled with perhaps 40 men and cell bars caused some consternation. It was only in the cell that they realised what the word ‘Bazoft’ was all about. Click on the link to read what it meant. Bazoft

It was Ramadan and soon food was brought in by the prisoners’ families to break the fast as the sun went down. Mark & Chris accepted their cell-mates' offers to share the food. Around communal dishes some of the men tried to tell Chris and Mark that they were in for murder and shooting down planes. What they were really in for was never found out.

As well as the implications of ‘Bazoft’  the boys were concerned about what may lay ahead for them that night in a room with so many men many of whom would have been in the recently ended Iran/Iraq war and who may not be of entirely stable minds. Both Mark & Chris had seen ‘Midnight Express’ a movie about an American’s time in a Turkish jail. Requests to call embassies were ignored but eventually they were moved into a separate room for the night. Perhaps saving them from experiences they might not have wanted to recount later.

The next day a local English speaking high school teacher was brought in to translate. Two hours of questions followed again all fairly polite and calm but Mark & Chris were becoming increasingly concerned about just when all this would end. It was when the translator got up to leave that they asked him what was going to happen now. As Mark recalls the teacher said "You will be taken to a different district where you will be judged”. With a high degree of trepidation and some reluctance they were put into an army jeep and driven to an army base farther away from Baghdad.  Once in the army base they waited in an office to be questioned further. Now that the military appeared to be involved Mark & Chris were very worried. After a tense wait, through the office door walked a tall casually dressed Iraqi man who smiled and said, in the purest of New York accents, “ Hi guys, what’s happening ?"

This was not at all what Mark & Chris had expected and through sheer nervous tension both cracked up laughing, a move which could have been unfortunate but luckily wasn’t. After a fairly brief questioning the ‘officer’, who had studied in The US, apologised explaining they had just come out of the war with Iran and, of course, Bazoft. He drove them to the local bus station with wishes for an enjoyable stay in Iraq.

Once in Baghdad Mark & Chris decided to inform their respective embassies. Mark was able to get into the US embassy with Chris, an experience in itself given all the security even then. The Americans were suitable ‘impressed’ and concerned, taking copious notes over several hours. By the time they got to the Australian Embassy, it had closed. They walked up the unguarded path and knocked on the door. There was no answer. By chance an embassy officer drove past, wound down his window to see what they wanted. They explained what had happened, he asked if they were Ok and, seeing they were, wished them well and suggested they come back on Sunday when the embassy re-opened.

They didn’t.

Mark & Chris went on to have a great time in Iraq. They found the Iraqi's to be friendly, honest & generous. At that stage they were eager to re-start their lives after the previous disastrous years of war. Of course they were all just a few months out from the 1st American war and the consequences that would be so disastrous. Mark & Chris also made use of the favourable street exchange rates by going to the Sheraton hotel for what amounted to $2 breakfasts as well as attending Easter Sunday church service. They visited Basra ,and its Sheraton, in the south and what would become Kurdistan in the north. Although they considered catching a bus back they hitched out again a few weeks later. This time uneventfully.

So why all this story and the post title A BLAST FROM THE PAST ? 

Chris was briefly in London and, after 20 years, came around for dinner last night. Having 'dined out' on this story for so many years it was great to actually relive it with Chris, to see that most of what had been remembered was accurate and to be reminded of things forgotten.

Below are some pictures taken after their release and more recent ones. Don't forget you can click on the pictures and they will open up at a higher resolution.

How could they have suspected
 these two of no good ?

 Catching up on local news
at the Baghdad Sheraton, 1990.

Chris, in Baghdad,
with the offending snorkel.

Like good whisky, 
they really have aged incredibly well.....

Catching up on local news in East Finchley, 2011.

As a teacher Mark has used all sorts of stimuli to get students to write. Early in his teaching in Canberra he motivated his class by earnestly informing them he had been to jail with an American called Chris. 
They had to imagine why. 

Here are a few of them that were scanned and kept.

The Hottest Spring Ever !

SHOCK !

There was almost a whole day of drizzle on Wednesday last week. A whole day ! Drizzle !!

It was the first time we had taken our umbrellas out in almost 2 months.  With talk now of almost certain water restrictions and possible crop failures I actually uttered words more commonly heard in Australia, “You can’t complain about the rain, we need it.”  Have a look at the BBC weather story below. Essentially southern England has had only 12% of the spring rain we should have had a total of just 15 mls. BBC WEATHER VIDEO

 This newspaper article talks about a spring average temp of 9.2 C …”the hottest since records began” Somehow putting 9.2 degrees and the word ‘hot’ together doesn’t sound quite right. Of course it is all relative. Many people are predicting that a warm spring means a cool summer. We are hoping not but graziers and farmers may feel differently. 

A radio report yesterday had experts predicting crop failures if there is no significant rain in the next two weeks. It seems South East England suffers a similar problem to Canberra, which sits in a rain shadow. It can be raining all over northern and central UK and not here.

It certainly is strange though having had stories on receding dam levels in Australia for the past 10 years (Canberra’s dam levels are 97% full and Sydney’s are 75% as they head into winter) to now have them here in England. After years of saving and reusing water at home we are now doing it here ! The up side of course is great sunny days and we haven’t had the heating on for over two months.

The unseasonal good weather was a bonus for the recent May Day celebrations held at Whiteland's College. Sally's mum and her Grandma went to Whiteland's teacher training College as did Jane, Mark's landlady from 1991. In a tradition that goes back to th elate 1800s, each year the senior students in the college choose either a May Queen or king. It is a job for life and each year a reunion is held and former monarchs return to the college in their specially made robes. maypole dancing and Morris dancers are highlights of the day. 

May Queens from previous years

Morris dancers

William & Aisha
join in the Maypole dancing

More recent May Monarchs.

Jane was the secretary for the college alumni for a few years and received letters from ex -students from all over the world. Not long after Mark moved into Jane's place in Earslfield, and almost a year before he would meet Sally, Jane received a letter from Tasmania. Jokingly she asked Mark if he knew anyone in Tasmania. No he didn't. What about a 'Margaret Eldridge' did he know her ? No, he didn't. 

Little did he know...  

Jane, Mark & Margaret
at Whiteland's College May Day

Sally’s mum went off to Jersey for a few days to catch up with old friends, she returns today. Sally is, as I write, flying off to Moscow today Wednesday 25th. The latest Icelandic ash cloud looks as if it is not going to be a major problem. We had hoped to meet her there however a combination of delayed visas leading to delayed bookings and then very complicated flights has meant that we have decided not to go. 

Mark is currently planning the alternative to a week in Moscow – a week back in Somerset and then to Southern Wales. They'll leave the day after Sally gets back from Moscow. They'll be staying with Valerie in Glastonbury then a swish farmstay near Cardiff for one night then on to a couple of nights in a youth hostel in the Brecon Beacons National Park. They'll be visiting a chocolate factory in Swansea, going down coal mine near Monmouth and hopefully taking a trip on a steam train as well. Sally will take a train to Cardiff to join them next Friday.

This week marks the end of the first half of the summer term and, of course, another week off school before coming back for five weeks and then two months off. Here the kids have 35 weeks of school while at home it is 40 weeks. It certainly seems as if it is an endless round of getting over or getting ready for holidays. Mark is considering a change in career from teaching to travel agent !

Sally's world famous Pavlova - now with a chocolate version. 

Aunt Mary came around to help celebrate Sally's birthday and to meet Margaret.  The kids are getting a lot out of time with each of our relatives. Mark's mum, Elizabeth, is planning a trip here in August this year. It is all such a contrast to our time in Jakarta. Then, quite understandably given the economic crisis and riots, only Sally's intrepid, fearless, brave and, by the time they got to us, sweaty, scruffy and quite thin aunt Joan and uncle Dick Worsfold visited us very early on. They had been backpacking around Indonesia and S.E Asia and were in dire need of a comfy bed & hot shower !

Last week Margaret and Mark along with another spouse, Simon, went to the Borough markets by London Bridge, a favourite of Mark’s, where he stocked up on some very good pesto, olives, feta and exceptional parmesan cheese. They went into the George Inn for a small drink after the rigors of marketing. 

Mark resisting the urge to haggle.

Mark & Margaret also went to one of the final performances of ‘The End of The Rainbow’, a theatre production on the last months of Judy Garland’s life before she died in London in 1967 at just 47 years old. It was an immensely powerful performance by Tracie Bennett.

Aisha is in the middle of the first major exams she has ever really done. She has done a great job of organising her time to study and is pleased with how they have gone so far.  She has been topping many of her classes as well as being a human torpedo. William continues to also do well and is making many new friends. It is a bit of a daunting prospect that each of them, after just 6 months in year 7 and year 4 respectively will move up to years 8 & 5 in the new academic year starting in September. 

AISHA 'STUDYING'.

We are quietly hoping that, by the time we leave in December 2013, they will have high paying merchant banking jobs.

Thanks to all the people who have posted comments or sent E-mails, and especially the five 'followers'. Not sure what 'following' actually means though.