The storm which lasted about 2 hours last night had finally come to an end! The day arrived and it was overcast! The evidence of the violence of the storm was all around, branches had been ripped off trees, and swathes of the village were waterlogged. Evidenced by the paddling pool about 15 cms of rain had fallen in the 2 hour period. Today we are to go and meet Yuliyas old school friends Ira and Dima and their eldest boy! The day starts as usual with breakfast ...

The storm which lasted about 2 hours last night had finally come to an end! The day arrived and it was overcast! The evidence of the violence of the storm was all around, branches had been ripped off trees, and swathes of the village were waterlogged. Evidenced by the paddling pool about 15 cms of rain had fallen in the 2 hour period. Today we are to go and meet Yuliyas old school friends Ira and Dima and their eldest boy! The day starts as usual with breakf...

Anyway back to that hangover! Thursday brought the dawning of our day! When we arrived I suggested that I thought it would be nice to cook a BBQ for a few friends, then light a campfire, and with the help of Yuliyas cousin (yes the internet lifesaver) entertain everyone with a few tunes! Whilst walking to the lake a few days before I noticed a few pumpkins in a neighbours vegetable patch! Enquiring with Victor he told me he had hundreds of pumpkins as they are us...

I am going to rush through the next couple of days as I am falling behind and I have a hangover the size of which I have not experienced for a while, but back to that in a while. We went into town to hand in the completed forms to the passport office and to finally register me! The large diplomatic woman behind the desk seemed adamant that I required medical insurance. Yuliya said it was unnecessary as I was married to a local! She phoned someone who obviously ve...

Monday meant the town was open which meant 2 things: I needed to be registered with the local authority and Maia and James required to apply for their passports ( both my children being dual-nationals)! Off we went in our little Lada 1300SL into town, which in itself was a rollercoaster ride, with only one working seatbelt between us and enough potholes to rattle to back teeth out of a rattlesnake! I spent the journey trying to figure out how I was going to catch...