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As is often my wont when writing for my blog, I'm typing this into a Word document to then copy and paste into the blog form later.I am feeling extremely guilty for not sticking to my pledge of writing something - however small - each week, but there is just SO MUCH that I could write about.One of my colleagues recently told me that he writes an e-letter home each month and often finds it difficult to keep it down to two pages.
If I remember correctly, I last posted something back in early February.Since then we have had the big celebration that was Dad's birthday.He turned 60 but continues to defy the stereotype of 'older people' by his vibrancy, energy and all round joie-de-vivre.Long may it continue - he is an example to all of us.His birthday fell during half-term so we were able to fly across for a few days to spend time with the family.
Dad had arranged everything himself.A room had been hired at the Customs House in South Shields
It was also good to see so many friends of the family after a long time.Many of them remember me as a shy 8-year-old with floppy hair, so to meet me again as a 32-year-old, married and living overseas meant that there was rather a lot to briefly fill in during one evening!Some, such as Dad's cousin Bryn, we had seen occasionally in the interim but with others, it was as much a change on their side as it was on mine!Dad and some of his colleagues from choir entertained us with a few items they had prepared, and of course Bella was the star of the show - and she wouldn't let us forget it!
But it could only be a long weekend - we were on the plane back to Moscow on the Sunday morning and back at work again on Monday morning!Still, no complaints: it was an 'extra' bit of time spent with the family that we hadn't expected when we saw them at Christmas.
It has been the longest and coldest winter for three years this year in Russia, and we were all glad to see the end of it.Having said that, I have always enjoyed having the snow around whilst I have lived in Moscow.I suppose it's because it reminds me of childhood winters when Dad would dig out the car and all of us would go sledging or walk to school through the snow.This was, however, the first winter that we had driven and I was interested to note that the mentality of 'I want to get past you' suddenly disappears when there is snow on the road.
Anyone who has driven in Moscow, expats in particular, remembers the mentality of 'I want to get in front of you' - the impatience, the unwritten hierarchy with black BMWs/Mercedes etc at the front (especially if they have a blue light on the top!) and anything smaller or less expensive at the bottom.But in winter, there seems to be less of this.There seems to be more of an acceptance of a Communist-like feeling that there is equality on the road: more signs are observed, cars slow down at crossings, drivers don't try and cut across four lanes.For the last three months a relative peace has reigned, culminating in the heaviest snowfall to land on the city in 45 years!I walked around the block and took some photos: it deserved recording.
But as with every year, the snow disappears as quickly as comes.The teams of Central Asian workers - Moscow's hidden workforce - have been out chipping away the ice, shoveling away the snow and beginning to prepare for their next task of painting over the layers of rust on the railings to make Moscow look bright and sparkling ready for May 9th's Victory Day.And sadly, yes - the lunatics have returned to the road - as quickly as they disappeared when the snow fell.
I am sitting writing this in the early morning here in Bangkok at the home of our good friends Natalie and Jonathan.It comes at the end of a week where we have found ourselves in the proximity of two pieces of headline-making news: one expected, one less expected.
Each morning at work I set my phone to 'vibrate' so that I won't be disturbed during lessons.It is also set up so that it will vibrate differently depending on whether there is a phone call coming in or an e-mail/text message.When I checked at morning break I found that Nataly had called - very unusual, as she knows that I won't answer the phone during lessons - so I called her straight back, and was greeted with some amazing news…
There had been two bombs in the Moscow Metro that morning: both on the red line - the same one that my in-laws live on and work on.Fortunately both of Nataly's parents had got to work by the time the bombs went off, and her sister is not working at the moment so she was not affected.From a family point of view, the one who suffered most was Grandma - she heard about it, tried calling Nat's mum and couldn't get through, then was beside herself with worry for an hour until Tanya called her to let her know that she was alright!
This is the first such incident in Moscow for six years, since the bombings at Rizhskaya metro in 2004.Since Monday there has been a clampdown in security in the Metro and at the airports, and there will probably be more to follow.Both President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin made some very strong statements on TV about 'rooting out terrorists' (I won't repeat them exactly) but it was just the strong, patriarchal kind of line that goes down well in Russia.
However, one line that was agreed on was that the coverage of Monday's events by Russian state TV was appalling.If a Russian didn't have access to digital media or the Internet, or someone hadn't called them, they wouldn't have known anything about it for at least 4 hours.A representative from Channel 1 made a patronising comment that they hadn't reported anything because 'there wasn't anything more to report' and also that after 9:00 the only people who watch TV are 'babushkas and housewives'.Precisely the sort of people who will worry the most - or did I miss something.
Most people in the blogosphere (that I read) mentioned that they got their news from BBC, CNN or another foreign news website.It beggars belief that an event is better covered by journalists from outside the home country and that people outside of the country will be better informed than the people who live in it.Such is the paradox of Russia.
And that was Monday.At the moment we are in Bangkok and there are protests going on between the ordinary people ('red shirts') and the supporters of the government (yellow shirts).Last night we went into the city for a meal with our friends to join with some others and celebrate the birthday of a colleague of Jonathan - at the end of a day where we had seen that the 'red shirts' had been marching around the streets in peaceful protest at the current government's unwillingness to call early elections.Whilst there had been closures of shopping malls earlier in the day, everyone was fine about going into the city - so we took a taxi from the compound where they live to the pier and rode in on a boat.The taxi took us past the famous 'Bangkok Hilton'- not a hotel but an off-the-cuff name given to the prison in the middle of Bangkok due to its unpleasant reputation.
At first nothing was obvious.We went to a bar for a couple of drinks and then took a taxi into the city centre.Then we started seeing barricades and people carrying banners, and lots and lots of red shirts.Even our taxi driver was wearing one! - albeit underneath his blue one."I have to work - safety," he explained."But I love Thaksin!" (Thaksin Shinawatra - ousted former PM of Thailand, whom the red shirts had adopted as their unofficial figurehead)
On the BTS (Bangkok Transport System - their metro) it was the same.Red shirts everywhere.But again, no trouble and no army or security services.People wanted to make a point and the government seem happy for them to do it - for now.Certainly we didn't feel threatened or uneasy whilst we were out.
All of this was forgotten by the time we went for our Indian meal at what is apparently Bangkok's best Indian restaurant.As a lover of all things Indian, I certainly had no complaints about the food!The food and the company were both great.It was good to meet some more of Jonathan's colleagues and friends from other international schools - many of whom he knows from his days at the Anglo-American School in Moscow!So they all know and appreciate where we are and more than one suggested that we should come out here for a bit.After seeing the expression on my wife's face following the after-dinner foot massage, that could be a distinct possibility… 'floating out' is probably the best way to describe it.
However, I have completely skipped the details of the experience of our flight in - and our time on the island of Koh Samed - so I will write about those in my next entry.
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